A Fire of Devotion Part 1: Louder Than Sirens
by ZeusParker
Summary: Seven of Nine has been out of the Borg Collective for less than a year, but she's already began to develop feelings for someone. Whether those feelings are strictly sexual or wholly romantic may be a moot point though. After all, separated from her husband by 60k light years or no, Samantha Wildman is still married.


Author's Note: I'm not even gonna try and defend this one. I imagine it's an unusual pairing, even by fanfic standards. I mean, Ensign Wildman was on the show so infrequently I had to look up her first name on Memory Alpha (for some reason I could've sworn it was Miranda; maybe I just had _Mass Effect_ on the brain that day). But while doing a marathon re-watch of SF Debris' _Voyager_ reviews (it was jokes from the reviews for "Bliss" and "Shattered" that planted this idea in my head), the germ of the idea for this pairing got into my brain, **and it wouldn't go the #$! away!** To the point where it was stopping me from planning for the 2015 NaNoWriMo. It got into my dreams, it was that pervasive. So, probably against my better judgement, I gave in, opened a text document, put on the Florence + the Machine station on Spotify, and worked this out to the best of my ability. And while I was at it, I went ahead and made some other changes too. Because why the hell not, it's fan fiction after all. So if, during the portions of this fic that take place during an episode of the show, you notice that certain events happen out of order or are rushed, etcetera, note that this was done for two reasons; because the story called for it, or because I screwed up and remembered the episode wrong. I will never reveal which ones are which though. Also, since I wasn't taking this super serious, I also have peppered the story with all sorts of references to other media. Though I'm sure I'll be accused of ripping those media off anyway, despite me making approximately ZERO effort to hide what I'm doing. :\

Also of note, while _Star Trek_ never explicitly says any of it's characters are heterosexual (which is an issue in and of itself, but this is not the time for a rant about Trek's lack of representation for LGBTQ people), it is implied enough that for all intents and purposes, my having Samantha Wildman be pansexual and Seven of Nine be a lesbian could be said to be a retcon. If it were canon anyway. And nobody say anything about Samantha reuniting with her husband in the books. I saw that on Memory Alpha, but I never read the post-finale _Voyager_ books, and from what I hear _Homecoming_ was shit anyway so I'm just ignoring them.

Lastly, as far as the continuity of the show prior to where this story kicks off, I am acting as though the episodes "Threshold" and "The Q and the Grey" simply did not happen. Both because I just don't like them, but the latter is specifically cut because I will not be including "Q2." Frankly, I found the final outing of John De Lancie as Q in the mainline Trek universe utterly disappointing, and his penultimate one little better. Granted "Death Wish" doesn't make for a good finale for Q either, but at least it was a good episode (in my opinion anyway). While I'm at it, I am including the _Star Trek TNG/Doctor Who_ comic book crossover _Assimilation_ _2_ in the canon. Because of reasons. You'll have to wait to see why though. ;) That said though, do _not_ assume that because I skip over an episode it automatically means it has been made non-canon for the purposes of this story ("Living Witness" for instance. It is not featured here despite easily being in my personal Top 5 for _Voyager_ ; up there with "The Thaw"). I've honestly been winging it for the most part. If you really want to know, feel free to ask.

And just to address the elephant in the room now, yes I will skip over "Fury" when I get to season 6, and yes it's for exactly the reason you think. Though honestly I was on the fence about doing anything with that episode anyway so...

 **Star Trek Voyager: A Fire of Devotion  
Part 1 of 4: Louder Than Sirens**

By Zeus Parker

 **Prologue**

Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01, was afraid, though she would never admit it. With so much of her Borg implants already gone, and the Federation starship _Voyager_ 's emergency medical hologram promising to remove more, and with the singular voice of the many drones of the collective gone from her she was truly alone in a way she had only been once before, for a few hours before the link was re-established. This was different. This was worse.

She had to get back, somehow. She didn't know how yet, but she knew that what she was doing now might provide an opportunity, though she would have to be careful. The human designated Ensign Kim was escorting her to engineering, and they were entering a turbolift. Another human was there. Female.

"Oh, hello," the female said.

"Ensign Wildman," Kim said. "Meet our newest crew member, Seven of Nine."

Seven stayed silent, though she had to admit, she found it fascinating that unlike so many of the other sentient beings on the ship, this human did not show any signs of fear in her presence. No dilated pupils, heartbeat only somewhat accelerated.

 _She will be assimilated once I have contacted the Borg_ , Seven thought. _She must know this is likely. Why is she not afraid?_

"Hi there," the one designated Ensign Wildman said. "I heard about your situation. I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Ensign Kim said. "For what? Rescuing her from the Borg? She's a fellow human Sam."

"Harry, please, don't interrupt," Ensign Wildman said, turning back to face Seven of Nine again. "How long were you in the collective?"

"Approximately eighteen Earth years," Seven said. "Including my time spent in a maturation chamber. What is the purpose of this inquiry?"

"How old were you?"

"I do not understand."

"How old were you when the Borg assimilated you?"

Seven paused. She knew the answer of course, she was just surprised that anyone on this ship was making the effort to treat her as something other than an injured child.

"Eight," she said.

"Look, I don't like the Borg or what they stand for. I lost an uncle at Wolf 359. But the fact is they are all you've known for most of your life. And I know for a fact you didn't ask anyone to separate you from them."

"That is accurate," Seven said. "I do not know how to properly respond to your compassion Ensign Wildman. It is, unexpected."

"Whatever happens," Ensign Wildman said, "whether you stay with us, or decide to go back to the collective, just know that at least one person on this ship respects that. I admire Captain Janeway a great deal, but I think this was a questionable decision."

Seven saw in her peripheral vision that Ensign Kim seemed to have difficulty processing what was happening there in the entryway to one of _Voyager_ 's turbolifts.

"Ensign Kim," Seven said. "We have a task to perform."

"Right. yeah. Let's get going," he said, shaking his head.

As the human designated Ensign Wildman, whom Ensign Kim had also called "Sam," walked away, Seven of Nine, for 1/18ths of a second, considered not trying to return to the collective, though she could not place why.

 **Chapter One**

"Hi Seven," Naomi Wildman said as she entered the cargo bay where _Voyager's_ newest crew member, the former Borg who still called herself Seven of Nine, kept her alcove.

"Hello," Seven said, not looking at the child as she continued to make notes on her PADD for the in-progress upgrade to the ship's astrometrics lab that she was working on with Harry Kim. She found that she tolerated the presence of the half-Human, half-Ktarian more than most of the other sentients aboard the ship. It wasn't that the child didn't ask the same kind of personal, occasionally invasive question as the adults. She did, and often. However, unlike them, Naomi's questions came from a place of childhood innocence, while the others were old enough to understand the concept of privacy (and certainly demanded it for themselves), yet chose to ask her anyway.

It took Seven a moment to realize that Naomi had not come in alone.

"So, Seven," the ship's chief xenobiologist, and Naomi's mother, Samantha said. It was obvious that Ensign Wildman was not particularly comfortable being around her, and she could not hold it against her. It had only been about a week since she had assaulted a number of the crew, and stolen a shuttle. Seven was honestly surprised at how few people on the crew seemed to resent her for her actions, even those she had outright assaulted.

They had in fact, for the most part, seemed to have forgiven her, due in large part to the fact that her outburst had been triggered in part by _Voyager_ coming across the shockingly still functioning distress beacon of _The Raven_ , the ship that she and her parents had been on when the Borg assimilated them nearly 20 years prior. And while she did harbor some desire to return to the comfort of being a drone and not having to make decisions on her own from time to time, that urge was slowly fading. She doubted she would ever forgive Captain Janeway for having forcibly removed her from the Collective, but she was an individual now, and she would do as a human what she did as a Borg; adapt.

"Ensign Wildman," Seven said. "I assume you are here out of concern for your daughter."

"Very perceptive," Samantha said. "I couldn't help but notice she's been spending a lot of time with you lately. Which is kind of a surprise, since I recall her actually being a bit scared of you when you first came on board."

"Mom!" Naomi said, looking offended.

"I remember that as well," Seven said. "It was understandable, given the circumstances. I'm not offended by it in the slightest.

"As for her spending time with me, she is simply curious. No more so than anyone else on the ship, but less..." Seven paused, searching for the right word to use. "Obnoxious." Naomi giggled at that response, and even Ensign Wildman was barely able to repress a smirk. Seven was rather surprised to discover that seeing that smile pleased her. "If this is in regards to my actions involving Lieutenant Commander Tuvok and the remains of my parent's starship, I can assure you your child is in no danger around me. However, being her parent if you feel it is in her best interests that we no longer-"

"Hold up, stop. You're getting way out ahead of me here," Samantha said, holding up her hands. "Yes, you're right, I do have my concerns."

"But she came back Mom," Naomi said. "That means she part of the crew now."

"Sweetie, please don't interrupt, it's rude."

"May I ask why you are here then, if not to ask me to not speak with Naomi?" Seven said, trying to keep her tone level, not wanting to come across as insulting Naomi's mother. She normally had no such concerns with the rest of the crew, but when she thought about Samantha she always flashed back to the first time she had encountered her. The Doctor had not yet removed the bulk of Seven's Borg implants so her appearance had made a number of the crew feel visibly uncomfortable. Except for Ensign Wildman, whom Seven had chanced to see on the turbolift while she was headed to engineering with Ensign Harry Kim.

"I'm invoking a parental privilege," Samantha said, snapping Seven out of her memories.

"At your earliest convenience, I want you to come to our quarters for dinner. I want a chance to talk with you myself. Then, and only then, will I decide whether or not I will continue to allow my daughter to spend time with you."

"Mom!" Naomi said, pouting, clearly upset at what her mother was saying. Seven of Nine found herself emotionally moved by this. She was not used to having human emotions, despite being human herself, because of how long she'd gone without them, so while she didn't have the right words to describe what she was feeling now, she knew that she didn't like seeing Naomi upset. _I shall have to speak to the Doctor about this_ , she thought. _Becoming overly protective of a child that is not mine could interfere with my duties down the line if this is not dealt with_.

"That is perfectly reasonable," Seven said. She tapped a few buttons on her PADD. "I have sent a selection of times I will be available to your quarters. Inform me when you have selected one."

Samantha was silent for a moment. "Alright then. That, went smoother than I expected. Do you have any preferences with regards to food, or drink? Any allergies?"

"I do not that I am aware of," Seven said. "However I will consult with the Doctor in case there are any types of food or beverage that could cause a reaction with my implants."

"Can Neelix cook for us?" Naomi said.

"No sweetie. In fact, you'll be staying with him while I'm talking to Seven."

"But Mom-"

"I told you Naomi, I want to talk with her privately. Okay?"

Naomi pouted again, looking down at the floor. "Okay," she said. It was the most childlike Seven had seen Naomi act to date. While she was certainly very mature for her age, due largely in part to her mixed parentage, even Seven of Nine found herself forgetting that Naomi was still not even 3 Earth years old yet.

Seven briefly considered making light of the coincidence of her attacking Neelix in the mess hall and stealing the shuttle having happened after eating food that Neelix had prepared for her, but ultimately decided that it would be in poor taste. For someone who usually learned things quickly, her difficulty in grasping humor was a source of minor frustration.

"Thanks for being so understanding, Seven," Samantha said. Seven nodded.

"I am not a parent myself obviously," Seven said. "But were I in your position I'd have likely done the same thing."

Samantha offered her hand out. It was a gesture Seven recognized, called a handshake. Once their hands touched something unusual happened. Seven found that unlike with other crew members who she'd had to do this with at other points since joining the crew, it didn't feel forced and done for the sake of politeness. For reasons she couldn't quite grasp she found that she was more than willing to have Samantha Wildman's hand in her's. Though it did fit somewhat all the other new and unusual feelings that the Wildman family in general seemed to bring out of her.

"I'll see you soon then," Samantha said.

After a moment, both of the Wildmans turned around to leave, Samantha taking Naomi's hand in hers as they walked away, the latter still trying to convince the former to allow her to attend the as yet unscheduled dinner.

As they left, Seven of Nine found herself watching Samantha Wildman's lower backside as she exited the cargo bay, in much the same way she had caught a number of the crew looking at her own when they thought she wouldn't notice.

 _Odd_ , she thought. _Perhaps I should discuss this with the Doctor as well_.

* * *

Commander Chakotay's focus was divided. The bulk of his attention was on the planned data collection operation of the twin binary pulsars that _Voyager_ had come across, but the rest of it was concern for the Captain. Kathryn Janeway would never admit it, but he knew her well enough to know that something was wrong. She'd told him about her headaches, but her silent anger during the staff meeting not too long ago left him concerned that something more was going on. He just wished she'd tell him what was wrong, even if it were there was nothing he could actually do to help.

As soon as he got to his quarters after the staff meeting, he sat down and began preparations for the operation. It certainly was an astonishing phenomenon outside the ship. The extent of the combined gravitational pull of the pulsars meant that anything within fifty million kilometers was getting pulled in and destroyed; the binary was as stunning to look at as it was dangerous to be near, even if Tom Paris was doing a perfectly fine job of keeping _Voyager_ at a safe distance.

The longer he worked on the project though, the more distracted he found himself. Not only worrying about Kathryn, but also for some reason going back and forth between the data collection, and re-reading the logs of the old _U.S.S. Excelsior_ under Captain Sulu, a thing he would sometimes do in his spare time. After a few hours of this, tired, and having trouble focusing, but still needing to get his work done, he stood up.  
"Computer, hot coffee. Black," he said. The replicator quickly had a cup ready for him, and he picked it up, immediately taking a sip. Suddenly, he felt a stabbing pain, causing him to drop the cup. He looked at his hands and saw they were shaking. He went into his bathroom and ran some water into the sink. Using it to wash his face, he passed his hand through his hair. He glanced downward, and noticed some of his hair in the sink.

He looked into the mirror, and ran his hands through his hair again, shocked as it came off, painlessly, in clumps, leaving his scalp exposed.

* * *

"So, like a date?" Harry Kim said.

Samantha Wildman didn't say anything, just stared at him in disbelief.

"Really, Harry?" Tom Paris said. The three of them, along with chief engineer B'Elanna Torres and assistant chief engineer Joe Carey all sat the same table in the mess hall. Samantha had just finished telling them about her talk with Seven of Nine in the cargo bay earlier that day, and about why she'd invited the former Borg to her quarters for either tonight or tomorrow, depending on availability.

"I was being sarcastic Tom," Harry said.

"Uh-huh, sure."

"I don't know, I could see it," B'Elanna said, smirking behind her cup of coffee.

"I'm married!" Samantha said defensively. "And besides, I already told you why I'm doing this. I'm just looking out for my kid here, what's so bad about that?"

"Absolutely nothing," Carey said. "As a father, I can totally relate. If my sons were here on this ship right now, I'd do the same thing."

"I think Harry is just jealous," Tom said, nudging his friend in the elbow as he said so.

"Okay, yes, I think she's pretty. So what?" Harry said.

"But she already said no as I recall," B'Elanna said.

"Not in those exact words, but yes. And I'm respecting that," Harry said. "I'd have to be a complete ass to try and pursue someone who's already made their disinterest clear."

"Good for you Harry," Carey said. "And don't let anyone tell you any different."

"So, moving on from teasing Harry..." Tom said.

"Thank god," Harry muttered.

"...what exactly are you gonna talk to Seven about, Sam? I mean, in your mind what could she say to make you easy with her hanging out with Naomi?"

Samantha thought about it for a moment, then sighed. "I don't know yet. It's not like there's a checklist. If a paper has been written on the subject of 'what to do if your child makes friends with a Borg,' I haven't found it."

"Show of hands; who else besides me thinks that would make for an amusing holonovel?" Harry said. B'Elanna raised hers. Carey just shook his head. Tom pondered the thought for a moment before speaking.

"Nah, I don't think that would sell. Too soon. I mean, Wolf 359 was only eight years ago."

"Wow Tom," B'Elanna said. "That's a little dark coming from you."

"Just calling it like I see it."

"I believe that phrase is code for 'I felt like being a jerk for a moment,'" B'Elanna said, laughing.

The five crewmates continued their meals, discussing other topics, such as the binary pulsar, until the time came for all of them to return to their duties, save Carey for whom this had been dinner before it was time for him to get some sleep. As they left the mess hall, and once both Tom and B'Elanna were out of earshot, Samantha took Harry Kim aside.

"Harry, if you don't mind my asking, when you, to put it bluntly, hit on Seven, did she at any point give any hint about what her... preferences might be?"

"Um, no. Why?"

"It's just that, well," she looked around to see if anyone else was coming up the hallway. "Maybe I just imagined it, but I think Seven might've been checking me out when I left her earlier today. After I invited her to my quarters."

"Oh," Harry said, his expression one of obvious surprise. "Well, hopefully she didn't get the wrong idea. I mean, unless you-"

"Oh, no, no no no. I mean she is quite pretty, like you said. Kind of reminds me of one of my pre-Academy girlfriends in fact. But that's not why I-"

"Hey, you don't need to convince me. I believe you. But, I also know that much like everyone else on this ship with partners back home, it's been almost four years with not much in the way of hope of us all getting home alive. And as far as our loved ones are concerned, we're all probably dead."

"What are you trying to say Harry?"

"I'm saying that if, _if_ , you found yourself interested in Seven of Nine, and the feeling was reciprocated, I don't think anyone would hold it against you if you pursued it. You never know what could come of it. I mean, look at the relationship that Tom and B'Elanna seem to think we don't all already know about."

Samantha Wildman chuckled, then sighed. "I think I'll just worry about making sure my daughter is safe around her for the time being."

"You do that. I need to get back to the bridge. You?"

"Same here."

Harry Kim nodded, and started walking towards the turbolift. Samantha sighed. "If you'd told me this morning that a former Borg drone was going to be checking out my ass, I'd have been very skeptical," she muttered. She started to follow Harry, but suddenly, out of nowhere, she felt a searing pain in her left leg. "Gah, the hell?"

"You okay Sam?" Harry said, holding the turbolift door for her. Sam was about to say she was, when the pain got worse, and that same leg suddenly locked in place, refusing to move at all. She started to fall over, but Harry leapt out and caught her.

"Harry, get me to sickbay, please." Tears were forming in her eyes.

"On it," Harry said.

* * *

When the sickbay door opened, the Emergency Medical Hologram looked at them, moving away from the foot of the bed where Commander Chakotay was lying and towards them, medical tricorder in hand.

"Ensign Kim, Ensign Wildman, which one of you is experiencing symptoms?" he said.

"That would be me," Samantha said, wincing through the pain.

"Doc, is something happening to the rest of the crew?" Harry said. "I haven't heard about anyone else-" Harry stopped when he saw Chakotay's face. "Commander, what happened?"

"Commander Chakotay has experienced sudden, accelerated aging," The Doctor said as he began scanning Samantha Wildman's leg with a medical tricorder. "The Captain just left before you got here. She has been complaining of migraines, but I can't convince her to accept treatment. At first I thought it was just stress, but then I started getting reports from all over the ship, everything ranging from minor inconveniences to potentially life threatening injuries. All just coming from nowhere, with no pattern whatsoever. Far too random to be a virus. Have we passed through any anomalies, or nebulas in the past few hours? Only bad things ever seem to happen in nebulas whenever we come across them."

"We were going to take a look at a nearby pair of binary pulsars," Harry said.

"Hmm," the Doctor said. "I doubt that could have anything to do with it, but I don't want to rule it out either. I got the captain's permission to set up an electron resonance scanner in the science lab to look at the Commander's DNA more closely. Hopefully that will help me figure out just what the hell is going on."

"Chell to sickbay," a panicked voice came over the comm system "we need an emergency transport from the mess hall. Neelix just collapsed!"

"Understood," the Doctor said. He tapped his combadge one more time. "Lieutenant Paris to sickbay. I'm going to need your help. We have more patients coming in."

"On my way Doc," Paris's voice replied.

* * *

B'Elanna Torres had just completed the installation of the resonance scanner when the Doctor entered the science lab, samples in hand.

"Is it ready?" he said.

"It's ready Doctor. Let's get to work."

"Of course. I had to leave Mr. Paris in charge of sickbay while I'm doing this, and while he has shown some aptitude in regards to first aid, I would prefer to get back there as soon as possible."

The Doctor inserted Chakotay's DNA into the scanner first.

"Okay," he said. "Here we go, and... Huh. That's odd. It looks like a series of black lines on the base pair sequences."

Torres took a look herself, and recognized it.

"Barcodes," she said. "They look like 20th century barcodes."

"Interesting," the Doctor said. He scanned another sample. "Neelix's DNA is tagged as well. It is a logical hypothesis that these tags are causing their condition, somehow."

"I don't think that's how barcodes work," Torres said. "but then again whatever these things are may just look like them. Let me do a deeper scan."

She took Chakotay's sample over to another console for a compositional analysis.

"I'm having trouble getting a clear reading from this sample," she said. "It almost looks like the barcode is slightly out of phase."

"Ah ha! We have a clue Ms. Torres. The tags are emitting a signal. A very weak signal, but I'm willing to be that if we run a scan for possible receptors using the ship's internal scanners we can find out who is responsible for-"

Suddenly, the Doctor's holographic form began to waver.

"That can't be good," Torres said, starting to check his mobile emitter "Oh crap, someone's trying to delete your program. I'm going to transfer you back to sickba-AAGH!" Without any warning, Torres screamed, began having trouble breathing, and collapsed. The Doctor tapped his comm badge.

"EMH to the bridge! I need a-" the Doctor said, before disappearing.

* * *

"Seven, can you hear me?" the Doctor said. Seven of Nine looked up, trying to determine where his voice was coming from. It clearly wasn't from her comm badge or the ship's speakers, but she couldn't see him anywhere either.

"Don't respond if you can, just come to Holodeck 2 where Captain Janeway's Da Vinci program is currently running. Quickly. I can explain once you're here." It was only then that she realized that the Doctor was somehow broadcasting his voice directly into her ears by way of her audio implants. Looking around, she noticed that no one was paying any attention to her as she moved down one of Voyager's many hallways. Many of them seemed dazed, or in pain, and those that weren't were talking to or aiding those that were.

 _Just like the Commander and Mr. Neelix_ , she thought, having been in sickbay earlier to discuss the disappearance of the Doctor earlier with Ensign Kim. _And just like Samantha_.

With that last thought, she quickened her pace as she made her way to the Holodeck. Once she was in, she found the Doctor, wearing period garb and painting at a canvas in front of a group of similarly dressed young men, presumably students.

"Doctor?" she said, not bothering to hide her confusion at the situation.

"Seven, good. We have a problem. Short version, someone or something is making random crew members sick, some of them severely, possibly fatally. Whoever they were tried to delete my program. I had to transfer myself here to hide. My mobile emitter is still in sickbay, so I'm stuck here. I'll need your help."

"What do you need me to do?" Seven asked without hesitation.

"First off, what has happened since I disappeared?"

"Engineer Torres is in critical condition. Mr. Paris reports that her lungs suddenly ceased to process oxygen, but they were able to get her to sickbay in time to prevent her death. The Captain is showing visible signs of extreme fatigue. Mr. Kim believes that you were attempting to transfer your program back to sickbay when something went wrong."

"He's partly right," the Doctor said. "B'Elanna was actually trying to do that when my mobile emitter went haywire. I think it was being sabotaged."

"By whom?" Seven said.

"Most likely whoever is deliberately causing the genetic alterations that are afflicting the crew. Why this is being done, I have no idea. But Torres and I were getting close to finding the culprit, I'm sure of it." He repeated everything he and Torres had learned from the resonance scanner before her collapse and his disappearance.

"It's likely that communications are being monitored," Seven said. "If this accusation is true, how am I going to find the responsible party?"

"I have an idea about that, but I'll need permission to modify your ocular implant."

"You believe you can modify it to scan visually on the frequency the genetic tags are transmitting on?"

"I do, yes. It's a phase variance on 1.5."

"Very well then. Do what you need to."

The Doctor had the holodeck replicate the necessary tool to adjust Seven's ocular implant. "Do you see anything that might be generating a signal in this room?"

Seven looked around, slowly and carefully.

"I do not," she said.

"Good. One room down, 256 to go. I suggest a deck-by-deck search. If you need to contact me, do so on frequency Epsilon 2. I've isolated it from the rest of the ship, so it should be safe."

"Understood." Seven immediately turned to exit the holodeck.

It did not take long after she left it to start seeing evidence of what the Doctor was talking about. It was more than just the tags on people's DNAs. On one crewman she passed, she saw a grotesque-looking device on his head, with tubes going up both his nostrils. He nodded at her pleasantly, apparently completely oblivious to the device. As he continued on down the corridor past her, she saw a brown-robed humanoid alien, who passed and monitored the crew member with a tricorder like device.

Seven attempted to follow the alien while giving no indication that she was aware of it's presence, eventually passing it to board a nearby turbolift. The alien got on with her, and proceeded to stick a large metal probe into her chest. Not wanting to give herself away, Seven started thinking about other things in order to remain calm despite the disturbing site in front of her; Naomi's childish attempts at humor, Harry Kim's awkward flirting, Samantha's smile.

Once the turbolift doors opened again, the alien removed the device. Seven stepped off and continued down the corridor of another deck. As she did so, more and more crew members would go past her on their own way, or she would pass them as they stood. Some of them had devices on them, others did not but were being scanned by other similarly dressed aliens. Either way, all were completely unaware of what was happening.

Seven entered the mess hall and found that most of those present had devices on them. Naturally, more brown-robed aliens attended to the devices, taking readings and adjusting the devices as they went about. The devices were attached to various body parts: head, shoulders, necks, backs, legs, etc. Again giving no indication that she was seeing anything out of the ordinary, Seven went behind Neelix's counter and pretended to pour herself a cup of coffee.

"Seven of Nine to the Doctor," she said quietly. "The aliens are here on the ship. I see them everywhere."

"I was afraid of that. You'll need to inform the captain immediately."

Seven spared a quick glance over her shoulder to see if any of the aliens were looking at her. When she saw they weren't, she put down the beverage containers she'd been holding and walked as casually as she could manage out of the mess hall to head for Janeway's ready room.

Once she was there she signaled for entry.

"Come in!" Janeway said, sounding agitated.

"Captain I wish to speak with you…" Seven said as she entered, noticing Tuvok was also there. She stopped in her tracks when she saw that Janeway also had one of the alien devices on her; metal spikes sticking into her head while two aliens on either side adjusted the devices to drive them in even deeper.

Seven very nearly uttered an expletive for the first time in her entire life, but managed to quickly regain her composure.

"What's wrong?" Janeway said.

"I regret to inform you that my attempts to fix the scanner in the science lab have failed. I dislike having to admit this, but I came here to ask for help."

"Ask Harry to lend you a hand. Now get out."

"Yes Captain," Seven said.

* * *

The Doctor was working on one of his sketches in the still running holodeck program when Seven of Nine returned. He opened his mouth to ask her about her progress, but noticed that, while she was hiding it well enough that any other crew member might not have picked up on it, she appeared somewhat dejected.

"I was unable to inform the Captain," she said. "There were two aliens present in her ready room."

"Damn. How many of them did you see?"

"I have observed fifty-six so far, though there could be more. Based on what I saw, it would seem that they are scientists of a sort, and they're experimenting on the crew, like lab animals."

The Doctor frowned. _Like this ship was one big petri dish_ , he thought.

"We can't allow this to continue," he said.

"Agreed," Seven said. "I have analyzed their energy signatures. I believe there's a way to make them visible to everyone."

"How?"

"A precisely modulated phaser beam should do it."

"What if the aliens retaliate by inflicting fatal mutations on everyone though? I think it's too risky. We need a way that will incapacitate all of them at once."

Seven nodded. The Doctor could tell she was thinking of another solution at the same time he was. He got there first.

"A neuroleptic shock!" he said. Seven's head tilted. "The key to their control is the genetic tags. I believe a neuroleptic shock would disable them. The shock will be rather painful for the crew, but they will recover."

"Administering the shock ship wide will be difficult," Seven said. "But I believe the power relays could be configured to do it. I will have to bypass several safeguards, it will take time, and there is a risk security will be alerted."

"Then get on it. And good luck. I'll see if I can find way to get a message to Mr. Tuvok without alerting the aliens. If I succeed he won't try to stop you."

* * *

Seven went to engineering as quickly as she could without drawing too much attention to herself in order to make the modifications. Once she arrived, she saw several aliens present, with their devices on various crewmembers.

 _I suppose it was naive to think I wouldn't run into any of them down here_ , she thought. She made her way to a console to begin her work. While she was working on it, Tuvok's voice came over her comm badge.

"Tuvok to Seven of Nine. Why have you accessed the E.P.A. system?" he said.

Seven briefly wondered if she could come up with a lie that was deliberately unconvincing as a way to tip him off to a threat on board, but decided that would be too convoluted, settling instead for a more plausible falsehood.

"There is a malfunction," she said. "I'm attempting to repair it."

"Perhaps you should leave that to the engineering crew," Tuvok said.

"Normally I would," she said, trying to speed up her work as much as she could without risking an error. "But those not occupied with other tasks have been affected by whatever is causing mutations in the crew."

"You are compromising the power safety protocols. Stop what you're doing at once."

"I assure you, there is no immediate cause for concern," Seven said. putting an emphasis on the word immediate. She hoped it would be subtle enough to get past the aliens here in engineering that she was warning him something was wrong, but not too subtle that Tuvok would see what she was doing as a threat to the ship and crew.

 _I find myself wishing these aliens had come aboard before the incident with The Raven_ , she thought. _That might make this marginally easier_.

When Tuvok stopped talking to her, and when she didn't hear a ship wide alert, she took that as a positive sign, and after another minute or so went over to another console to begin the next stage of what she needed to do. As she was making adjustment she heard Tuvok's voice behind her.

"Move away from the console," he said. Seven turned her head. He was there, with a phaser in hand. Three of the brown-robed aliens were coming towards them now, apparently curious about what was going on.

"I can't explain what I'm doing," she said, lowering her voice even though she doubted that the aliens couldn't hear her. "But you must allow me to continue."

"Your actions could result in an energy discharge that would be harmful to the crew," he said.

 _So much for my non verbal cues_ , Seven thought.

"I realize that," she said, now looking over Tuvok's shoulder, directly at one of the aliens, who now moved closer to them.

"I apologize in advance Mr. Tuvok," she said. Before Tuvok could respond she shoved him to the side, grabbing his phaser. She quickly adjusted the setting, pointed it at the alien in front of her, and fired, making it visible. She grabbed the now visible alien by the shoulder, and pointed the phaser at the two that were still invisible to all but her.

"Don't move," she said.

* * *

"She says her species is called the Srivani and that her name is Alzen. They say they're scientists just like us," Janeway said. She was in her ready room. Tuvok, Seven of Nine, and the Doctor, who was finally back in his mobile emitter, were there too. Janeway continued briefing them on what she'd learned during her interrogation.

"She actually had the nerve to tell me her people made their experiments as 'benign' as they could. Then she stood there, and told me 'fatalities would be minimal,' like we weren't even sentient beings. I'd say we were like lab rats to her, but even in the days of animal testing back on Earth some lab rats were treated better than this. It was still wrong, but compared to this they were practically pampered!"

"Did she say anything else, Captain?" Tuvok said.

"That any more interference from us would lead to us 'subjects' being terminated," Janeway said, seething with anger. "Is there any way we can disable the tags?"

Seven shook her head. "The Srivani have somehow modified the EPS relays to prevent me from inducing the neuroleptic shock."

"The same with the internal sensors," Tuvok said. "A direct confrontation would be unwise due to their ability to tamper with the crew's DNA."

"We have to do something," the Doctor said. "More and more people are being taken to sickbay with increasingly severe symptoms."

Janeway groaned in frustration. "We have to find some kind of advant-"

"Bridge to the Doctor, we have a medical emergency!"

All four of them exited the ready room quickly. Janeway and the Doctor both ran up to Ensign Roberta Luke from security, lying on the floor convulsing, her face horribly crisscrossed by ruptured blood vessels.

"She's in hypertensive shock," the Doctor said, scanning her with his tricorder. "20 milligram lectrazine." Janeway opened his medkit and followed his instructions. While she was doing so, the Doctor, despite being a hologram, managed to gasp.

"Her blood pressure is 300 over 125!" he said.

"How is that possible?" Janeway said as she applied the hypospray to Roberta's neck.

"Severe adrenal stress," the Doctor said. He ran his scanner over her. "The lectrazine's having no effect." he said. Roberta let out one more painful breath, then stopped moving.

"Her arterial pathways are rupturing," the Doctor said. "She's in cardiac arrest, we're losing her."

Janeway immediately went into action, remembering her first aid training, and began performing CPR.

"Captain," the Doctor said. "That won't help, there's too much internal bleeding."

"Then try something else dammit!" Janeway said.

"Her entire circulatory system has collapsed," he said. His tricorder made a long, sustained noise. "Brain death has occurred."

"Already?" Seven said.

"There's nothing more we could've done Captain," the Doctor said, even as Janeway continued trying to revive Ensign Luke. After another minute, she finally gave up. She looked down at the young woman's body.

She remembered the words that Alzen had said to her in the brig, about fatalities being minimal, and about how this was all for some sort of greater good.

"Fuck, that," Janeway said. She stormed over to the conn console, angrily relieving the officer on duty there, who immediately vacated the seat. She sat and punched in a course.

"This ends now," she said. "Red alert!"

"Captain, what are you doing?" Tuvok said.

"I'm running a little experiment of my own," she said.

"Captain," Seven said. "One of the aliens has just entered the bridge."

"Understood," Janeway said, as _Voyager_ began flying towards the binary pulsars. "Harry, increase power to the structural integrity field."

"Already on it ma'am, but I don't know how long it'll hold," Ensign Kim said.

Janeway heard a noise behind her.

"What do you hope to accomplish by this?" Janeway knew it was the alien that Seven of Nine had told her about.

"This? Oh, you mean flying into a binary pulsar. Yeah, I'm seeking to crush this ship like a tin can."

"I don't know what that is, but it would seem to me that you are trying to intimidate us," the Srivani woman said, having revealed herself.

"You're welcome to stick around to find out," Janeway said, not taking her eyes off the conn.

"Hull stress is at 45 teradynes," Tuvok said. The Srivani went over to the console and tried to alter the ship's course.

"It's locked in," Janeway said. "Only my authorization will release it."

"This is completely irrational behavior Captain."

"That's what you were going for wasn't it? Pushing my dopamine levels to the edge, keeping me awake for four days straight?"

"Shields have failed," Harry Kim said. "Structural integrity down to 20%."

"Enter the authorization code and change course immediately!" the Srivani said.

Janeway mentally ran down the list of insults she could hurl at the woman, but found them all lacking in the ability to convey the contempt she felt.

"My ability to give a damn about what you think died with Ensign Luke," she said.

"I could kill your crew in an instant!"

"Go ahead, but who would be here to prevent this ship from getting crushed by the pulsars?"

After a few seconds, Janeway saw the Srivani woman vanish. Returning to her invisible state or beaming away, she had no idea, and frankly didn't care.

"Captain, the hull's starting to buckle," Harry said.

"Captain," she heard Seven of Nine say. "Two alien vessels are attempting to disengage from _Voyager_ 's hull." She felt a shudder through the ship stronger than the ones it had already been experiencing on it's current course.

"One of the Srivani ships has been destroyed," Tuvok said.

"Diverting power to the shields," Harry said.

"No," Janeway said. "Assuming we survive this we'll need all the momentum we can get to reach escape velocity on the other side. Everyone, hang on!"

* * *

Seven didn't realize how tight her grip of the auxiliary tactical console had been until she let go of it. The ship had stopped shuddering, and the viewscreen showed clear space ahead.

"We made it," Harry Kim said. "We're alive."

"I now think I understand the human compulsion for redundant statements," Seven said. "Even though I am standing here, clearly alive, I can barely believe it myself. Repeating it would seem to have the effect of reinforcing reality."

"Is that your way of saying you were scared for a moment there Seven?" Captain Janeway said.

"Yes," Seven said.

"I bet the Borg never tried a maneuver like that," Harry said.

"Not intentionally, though no one can argue that it didn't work."

"Doctor?" Janeway said.

"Still here, and glad I don't have a heart so that I can't have a heart attack," he said.

"Now that our guests have fled, begin work on removing the alien devices."

"With pleasure Captain. I just need to attend to Ensign Luke's body first."

Seven had, in the midst of the flight through the pulsars, forgotten about the dead crewmember. She looked over, and noticed that the Ensign's hair was similar in color to Samantha Wildman's. That fact, though totally coincidental, made her feel a little sad.

"Captain," she said. "With permission I would like to assist the Doctor. My ocular implant is still modified to see the devices, I believe I could aid in their removal."

"Permission granted," Janeway said, sounding relaxed for the first time in days, in spite of the alien device still penetrating her skull. "Start with me. I've already tried to kill us all once today, let's not risk a repeat."

"I'll meet you in sickbay," the Doctor said.

 **Chapter Two**

"While I did familiarize myself with the ship's logs after I was brought aboard," Seven of Nine said, "I doubt that I could ever truly understand such an event without experiencing it myself."

"Probably not," Samantha said, looking intently at her glass of wine. Seven wondered if perhaps the ensign had had too much of the alcoholic beverage. "You know, to be honest, I think this stuff Neelix brought on board is a little stronger than he said it was because I don't even know why I told you about that. Heck, I was asleep at the time so I missed most of it."

"As it is not classified information, nor deeply personal, I see no reason why the incident should not be open for discussion," Seven said, wondering why the beverage didn't seem to be affecting her in the same way. _I wonder if my remaining Borg implants render me either immune to intoxication_ , she thought, _or merely makes it more difficult. I should endeavour to learn which it is at some point, if I have the time_.

"Good point. So you're telling me the Borg never encountered anything like that before?"

"I imagine an entity that can alter the dimensions of a ship, causing its geometry to change without destroying it, and capable of leaving gigaquads of new data in the ship's computers in it's wake would've been of great interest to the Collective if we had."

"I imagine so. One time Naomi told me about a nightmare she had where she was trying to get somewhere on the ship, only doors kept leading to the wrong rooms, or hallways would just be much longer than they are, or rooms would be bigger. I bet that the people who actually experienced the inversion field, or the Ring as a lot of them call it, must've felt like that."

"I have had some nightmares myself recently," Seven said, surprising even herself by mentioning it. "About my parents being assimilated. I would call them memories, except I see myself there, as I look now. It is, disconcerting."

"I heard about those, when we found your parent's ship last week. I'm so sorry," Samantha said. "That must've been awful."

"It has not affected my performance of my duties thus far, but I appreciate your concern." Seven felt herself smiling, though only slightly. The only time she had ever felt quite as safe as she did now was when she was a drone, and all her physical needs were provided for by the collective.

There was a silence that lasted several seconds, when Samantha looked down.

"Um, Seven?"

"Yes?"

"Are you aware that you've had your hand on top of mine for the past several seconds?"

Seven looked down and noticed that Ensign Wildman was correct. She was unsure of exactly when during the conversation that had happened, but she removed it immediately, but suddenly found herself unsure of where to put it now, eventually settling for on the table after a second that felt longer than it actually was.

"My apologies, Ensign. I was unaware-"

"Seven, I think you may have gotten the wrong idea about this dinner. This wasn't a date. I'm sorry if I-"

"I did not believe it was," Seven said. "You stated that your intention was to ascertain my fitness to be around your daughter unsupervised. I had no cause to assume you had an ulterior motive. I... apologize. Again."

"Well," Samantha said, taking in a deep breath of her own before continuing, "let's just, um, chalk it up to the wine, shall we? After all, I'm a married woman, and you are, well, you've only been free of the Borg Collective for a month or so. I think. I'm a little woozy myself. I'll have to tell Neelix to never let me drink this again."

"That would be most wise," Seven said, noticing that her own face suddenly felt warmer than normal. "I should probably leave, as this meeting as gotten undeniably awkward."

"Good call. Um, oh, and I don't mind Naomi spending time with you, by the way. And, thanks for saving the ship from those, um." Samantha's brow furrowed as she tried to remember whether or not the race they'd encountered had identified themselves. "Those aliens that were experimenting on the crew and everything."

"You are quite welcome, though regrettably I was unable to save Ensign Luke."

Samantha sighed. "You know, I didn't know Roberta all that well. She mostly kept to herself. I think she was just really shy. What those people did to her, I didn't see it but…"

She shivered.

"At least we didn't lose anyone else," Seven said.

"We. I like how you say 'we.' I guess you really are becoming part of the family aren't you?"

"It is not an easy process," Seven admitted. "But perhaps one day I will start to think of this ship as home." She stood up, putting her hands behind her back. "I thank you for the meal, Ensign Wildman. As for my behavior a few moments ago I-"

"You apologize, I know. You've done it twice already. It's okay. I think there was just some miscommunication. It happens. I'll see you around."

"Very well. Good night, Samantha."

* * *

"It's called blushing," the Doctor said as he ran his medical scanner over Seven of Nine. "It has already gone away as I saw no signs of it when you entered sickbay, but if it's still a matter of concern to you I can investigate further. First off, I will need to know the exact circumstances that led to it."

"Why?" Seven asked curtly.

"So I can determine whether or not what you described is the result of a medical condition known as idiopathic craniofacial erythema, or the more standard reason which is emotional stress, such as that associated with embarrassment, anger, or romantic stimulation."

"I would prefer not to divulge that information Doctor."

"Well, I could do a more thorough scan to search for I.C.E., but that would take longer than you just telling me-"

"You are bound by an oath of confidentiality are you not?"

"Of course," the Doctor said, offended at both Seven's interruption and her implication. "Anything you say to me would be kept in the strictest confidence."

"Even if the Captain were to order you to tell her?"

"Seven, unless you're going to tell me that you plan to destroy the ship or murder a crew member, it would take nothing less than a court order from a Starfleet judge, of which we don't currently have access to, to make me divulge. Now please, just tell me what-"

"It is either embarrassment or romantic stimulation," Seven said as matter of factly as if she were telling the Doctor what stardate it was. "Or perhaps both, if that is possible."

"It can be," the Doctor said, putting away his medical tricorder. "Seven, if you are planning to enter a romantic entanglement with another member of the crew, I do not yet know what risks your Borg implants might-"

"I don't believe that will be an issue Doctor," Seven said. "I am not even certain my interest was quite so ideal. Having never experienced sexual attraction until recently it's possible that that was all I was interested in. Either way, Ensign Wildman has-"

"Wait, what?" the Doctor said. "I'm sorry, forgive me for interrupting, I was just not expecting you to be so blunt about the subject given your earlier statements about my discretion."

Seven of Nine let out a frustrated sigh. She proceeded to tell him about the dinner with Samantha Wildman; why it had been set up, the alcoholic beverages, Seven's hand ending up on Samantha's without her even realizing she'd done it, and of course the blushing which had brought her to sickbay in the first place.

"I see," the Doctor said. "Well, I'm afraid I can't offer anything useful with regards to your physical attractions, but I believe we can safely rule out a medical condition to explain your blushing. I will say however that if you do find yourself becoming, to put it bluntly, sexually frustrated, I can recommend a number of holodeck programs that could provide you with a healthy outlet."

Seven just looked at the Doctor with a blank expression for a moment, before saying, "I'll consider it."

"Now, just so I don't overwhelm you with options, would you be willing to tell me if you'd like a program with only women or if you'd prefer to keep your options open?"

Seven sighed again, though the Doctor this sigh sounded more sad than frustrated.

"I'm not entirely sure myself, Doctor."

* * *

Finding themselves alone in the turbolift after a shift change, Captain Janeway decided to ask her first officer a question that had been on her mind all day.

"Commander Chakotay, have you spoken with Seven of Nine lately?"

"Not about anything not related to ship functions," he said. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, apparently she had dinner at Samantha Wildman's quarters the other night."

"I did hear about that. Samantha says that it was just a conversation to settle any concerns she had about Seven spending time with Naomi. According to her it went well, and she doesn't have a problem with the two of them being friendly."

"She said the same to me, but that's not what concerns me. I've noticed that Seven seems to have slid backwards somewhat. Prior to that she was starting to speak to the rest of the crew. Nothing major, just about shipboard functions like you were talking about, but it was still progress. Now, except for Naomi, Harry, and the Doctor she's resorting to monosyllabic replies, ignoring you unless you ask a direct question..." Janeway shrugged. "Did you notice that?"

"I don't think so, but our interaction today was very brief. What are you suggesting?"

"I'm not sure," Janeway said. The turbolift door opened and the two exited, making their way to the mess hall to grab something to eat. "The only possibility that immediately comes to mind is that Samantha said something to Seven that offended her, but I can't imagine what that might be. I certainly doubt she'd do it on purpose, that's just not the Samantha Wildman we know."

"There is another possibility actually. Before we had that whole mess with those out of phase aliens messing with our DNA, the same day as the dinner, some of the bridge crew were overheard teasing Ensign Wildman about her dinner being a 'date.'"

Janeway chuckled. "A date? Samantha Wildman and Seven of Nine? Even if Samantha wasn't married I'm having a hard time picturing that."

"Agreed," Chakotay said, "However, it's possible that Seven of Nine might've mistakenly perceived it that way herself, and she's reacting to the night not going as she'd hoped."

"If that's the case we should probably keep an eye on her then. She's literally experiencing things she never had to deal with as a Borg drone, and I doubt the Borg have protocols for dealing with a broken heart."

"Do you think she could be a danger to-"

"No, no, nothing like that Chakotay. Nothing like that. I just hope it doesn't discourage her from pursuing anything else in regards to her humanity. That she seems to be friendly with Naomi is certainly a good start, but I'd prefer she not stop there."

"Couldn't agree more. This does beg the question though."

"What's that?"

"How do we find out the truth of the situation. I doubt Seven of Nine would just tell us if we asked."

Janeway thought about it for a moment. "Probably best if I approach her alone then. The two of us asking together, it could look like we're ganging up on her. I'll take care of that now since I'm not really all that hungry. See you in the morning Commander."

"Good night Captain," Chakotay said as he turned down another corridor while Janeway kept walking straight ahead. "And good luck."

"Computer, locate Seven of Nine."

"Seven of Nine is in Holodeck Two."

"The Holodeck? That's unusual," Janeway said as she changed direction herself.

By the time she arrived at Holodeck Two, Seven was already exiting. She was wearing the brown jumpsuit she had been provided shortly after she came on board, but her hair was loose, and she seemed to Janeway's eyes to be disappointed. Seven flinched slightly when she noticed Janeway approaching her.

"Captain," she said.

"At ease Seven. You're off duty. Getting some Holodeck time in I see."

"I was," Seven paused, as if she'd been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to do and was desperately searching for an excuse. "trying out a program the Doctor had suggested to me, to deal with a personal issue. However, it didn't quite work. Was there anything you needed Captain?"

"I was going to ask you a question of a personal nature, but I'm reconsidering."

"Based on?"

"You seem stressed, and I'd rather not add to that at this moment. I'm sorry the Doctor's suggestion didn't help. You could always try one of my holonovels if you like."

"No offense Captain, but I'm aware of your programs of choice. I do not mind the Da Vinci program, but Victorian England holds no particular interest for me."

Janeway sighed. "I hear that a lot actually. I tried to get Harry Kim to try it once. Said that after ten minutes he was ready to strangle the child characters."

"That seems out of character for him," Seven said.

"I can't say I entirely blame him, they can be a bit of a handful. But I really think if you're just willing to stick it out past chapter-"

"Captain, if I say I'll answer your personal question would you stop talking about Victorian children?" Seven said, her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose, not even trying to hide the tone of frustration in her voice.

Janeway found herself wanting to be offended, but to laugh as well. She also felt her patience start to ebb.

"Seven, to put it bluntly, what the hell is wrong with you?" she said. "These past few days it's like you've gone backwards in your-"

"I am not going to attempt to escape again if that is your concern Captain. I have simply had an unpleasant week. The Doctor offered up the holodeck program I just ran as a way to, in his words, 'unwind a little.' It did not work, but I can assure you that my performance on this ship will not suffer, and all my tasks will be completed on time, if not early." Seven then stood at attention like a proper officer. "Permission to return to my alcove, Captain."

"Granted," Janeway said. After Seven was out of earshot, she let out a long sigh, and put her face in her hand. "That could've gone better." She glanced the panel next to the door to Holodeck 2. _Kathryn, what are you doing?_ she thought even as her hand began tapping on the console. "Computer, display the last program that was in use," she said.

 _Classy_ , her inner voice told her. _Invasion of privacy. Great way to get Seven of Nine to feel like part of the family._ Janeway closed her eyes as text began to fill the screen. "Cancel that request," she said. She let out another long sigh.

"She'll be fine. Seven'll be fine. I'm worrying about nothing." Janeway finally moved from where she was standing, heading to her quarters to get some sleep.

 **Chapter Three**

The ship shuddered from yet another energy weapon impact. Harry turned to see if Seven had kept up with him, in time to see her lying on the floor, not moving.

"Seven!" he yelled, turning back to help, but she raised an arm, weakly.

"Harry, no. Get to deflector control, and shrink the temporal shield. If it's still covering all of _Voyager_ when our allies destroy the Krenim timeship-" she coughed, and even from the distance he was Harry could still see the spray of blood from her mouth when she did so. He limped back towards her, only now noticing that his ankle had twisted.

"We're turning it off," Harry said. "Together. And you're taking the data we have on the Krenim stored in your implants back to warn us in the past. That was the plan. That was the Captain's order. Stay with me, we can do this."

"Ensign Kim, I'm sorry. You'll have to be the one to stay by the generator."

"They won't believe me. They'll think I'm crazy when I tell them-"

"No time," Seven said, her voice getting quieter. Harry struggled to try and get the chunk of bulkhead that had fallen on her to move.

"Sam?" Seven said, looking past Harry, even though there was no one behind him.

"She's safe," Harry said as he kept trying to clear debris off of her, even as he noticed the growing pool of blood underneath her. "She and Naomi were with the personnel we evacuated."

"Samantha, I-" Seven didn't get to finish the sentence. Harry watched the life go out of her eyes. Tears forming in his eyes, he began uttering every expletive he knew, in every language he knew. The ship shuddered once again.

"Janeway to Kim! Janeway to Seven!" the Captain's voice said over the comm.

"Kim here Captain. I'm sorry, Seven of Nine didn't make it."

"Dammit! Can you still get to deflector control?"

Harry looked down the corridor and saw the door that had been the goal for him and Seven of Nine. While debris littered the floor, it was nothing he couldn't step over. So close, he thought. She was so close. And with her implants recording everything she could prove-

"Harry! Report, can you get-"

"Yes ma'am!" Harry said, getting up and moving as fast he could, ignoring the pain in his left ankle. "And Captain?"

"Yes Ensign Kim?"

"I look forward to seeing you again."

Harry got to the door to deflector control. He already knew the automatic openers were off-line so he wasted no time in prying it open with his bare hands. The room was still burned and messy from where an explosion had killed the crewmen usually stationed here nine months ago. Harry thought for a second he could even still smell charred flesh. The device that had protected them from the timeline changes caused by the ship that _Voyager_ and a loose coalition of races were trying to destroy this very second was right where it should be and he immediately got to work on it. He wished he could simply just shut it off, which would be easier and quicker, but someone needed to be able to warn past- _Voyager_ to steer clear of Krenim space. He began making the modifications necessary.

"Shield radius down to, to, there's no one here why am I bothering saying this out loud?" Harry said as he manipulated the controls, hoping to get the temporal shield down to big enough only for him and the device itself.

The ship shuddered harder this time, and he felt the floor tilt under him.

 _Inertial dampeners must've gone off-line_ , he thought as he tapped his comm badge.

"Ensign Kim to the bridge," he said. No response. "Captain Janeway, are you there?" Nothing. "Tuvok? Neelix?" No response. If they were dead, that meant that he was the only person left alive on this ship. And that meant one less ship firing weapons at the Krenim. If _Voyager_ was destroyed before the time ship was, everything he was doing would be for nothing.

A beep coming from the temporal shield generator indicated that the shield bubble had reached it's desired size. Harry Kim closed his eyes, and hoped.

He heard a noise he couldn't identify, noticed that the air around him suddenly smelled different, and-

"What the hell?" a voice yelled out in alarm. Harry opened his eyes. Except for a small circle of dust and grime around him and the device, deflector control was clean and in perfect working condition. He recognized the two crewmen who were looking at him in shock, one of them holding a phaser on him. Harry couldn't blame him.

"Dalby. Gerron. Good to see you guys again." Harry smiled, then laughed, then began to cry.

* * *

When Janeway entered sickbay, she saw the Doctor putting a blanket over Harry Kim. At first she suspected he was covering Harry's body; that the ensign was dead, but the Doctor stopped at Harry's neck, and she only then noticed Harry's chest rising and falling.

"Doctor," Janeway said quietly. "Is he all right?"

"He's fine. I gave him a mild sedative as he was suffering from sleep deprivation. I estimate that when he was brought here he hadn't slept in at least 48 hours, possibly more."

"I don't see how's that possible. He was almost late for his shift this morning because he overslept. In fact, this whole thing is confusing. One second, he's on the bridge, clean uniform, healthy, doing his job. The next he's gone and in deflector control with an unidentified piece of technology, covered in blood and soot, and looking malnourished."

"Captain, while this is indeed Harry Kim, a genetic test has confirmed that, he's not the Harry Kim you saw on the bridge this morning. My tests show that he is approximately one year older then he should be, and showing signs of multiple inadequately healed injuries, along with a badly sprained ankle, the malnourishment you mentioned, and showing signs of severe post-traumatic stress. My guess is that time travel was involved here. As for the blood, not all of it was his. I identified the DNA of at least seven different crewmembers."

The Doctor didn't elaborate further. Janeway sighed and shook her head.

"This kind of thing seems to happen to him a lot doesn't it?"

"Indeed, though not that much more than the rest of us. Were I inclined to believe in such things Captain, I would think this ship is cursed. We've travelled through time, encountered lifeforms that defied the known laws of the universe, been duplicated-"

"I don't need a run down of the past four years Doctor," Janeway said. "Just let me know when he wakes up. I imagine he'll have quite a story to tell us."

"That's assuming he'll want to Captain. If his PTSD is as severe as it seems from the scans, he may want to do anything he can to avoid reliving his experiences. Perhaps the device he was found with can provide the answers you need."

"We'll see. I'm on my way to engineering right now." Janeway took another look at her sleeping operations officer. "Just make sure he's alright."

"I'll do what I can," the Doctor said.

* * *

"While the majority of the device is made with Federation technology," Seven of Nine said as she and B'Elanna Torres scanned the device that had been found with Harry Kim earlier, "there are components that we cannot identify the origin of. Obviously they come from species we have not encountered yet. There are Borg nanoprobes in there as well, which suggests that I had a hand in building this."

"Makes sense," Janeway said, having arrived in engineering a few moments ago. "The Doctor says that Harry has aged, making him a year or so older than he was just this morning."

"He can probably give us more details," B'Elanna said, "but Seven and I agree, this machine was built with the purpose of protecting a ship from changes in the timestream. This read-out here shows the device was recently reconfigured so that the temporal shield would protect only a fraction of the space it normally does. I don't know if Harry volunteered, or was ordered to stay with the machine but whatever happened in our future, he had to sacrifice a whole year of his life to come back to this moment to warn us about something."

"That is a logical assumption," Seven added.

"Whatever it is we'll have to wait. The Doctor has him sedated right now." Janeway tapped her comm badge. "Janeway to Paris. Bring the ship to a full stop."

"Full stop, aye." Paris said. "Captian, is this about Harry? Did he say-"

"Nothing yet Tom. Doctor says he's fine, just needs some rest."

"That's a relief," Tom said.

"Agreed," Janeway said, tapping the badge again to end the communication.

"Captain," B'Elanna said. "How bad was it, really? Ken Dalby said Harry looked he'd just come out of a war zone."

"He may very well have," Janeway said. "The Doctor didn't explicitly say it, but judging by the fact that not all of the blood on Harry's uniform was his, I'm guess that during this lost year he saw a lot of us die."

"This makes the second time for him doesn't it? The second time he's been the only survivor of another _Voyager_?"

"Forgive me for interrupting," Seven of Nine said. "But I don't understand what you are referring to." B'Elanna winced, while Janeway looked uncomfortable.

"Seven," Janeway said, "when you read this ship's logs, I assume you came across an incident where this ship was duplicated by a spatial anomaly."

"Correct. I also understand that the duplicate _Voyager_ was destroyed when it self-destructed to destroy a Vidiian ship."

"Seven, if I order you not to tell anyone what I am about to tell you, will you follow that order? Above all else, Naomi Wildman can't know."

Seven of Nine found herself tempted to engage in hyperbole, to suggest any number of violent acts she would allow to befall her before she would do anything that could harm Naomi. She settled instead for simply saying;

"I am perfectly capable of being discreet, Captain."

Janeway looked around, then stepped closer to Seven.

"The log is mostly accurate. However, it wasn't the duplicate _Voyager_ that was destroyed. We're the copy. It's not something we like to think about, for fairly obvious existential reasons. But before the original destructed in order to save us, the original Harry Kim came over, along with Naomi, who'd just been born."

"But why would-" Seven started to say, but then it hit her. "Oh. I was aware that the ship was badly damaged and that there had been casualties, but the report fails to mention that Naomi Wildman and Ensign Kim were among them."

"And as far as Naomi is concerned, that's exactly how it went. She doesn't need to know."

"I agree, Captain," Seven said, feeling an inexplicable sadness. "She is intelligent, but she is also still a child. Learning something like this would almost certainly be... be... I cannot even think of a proper word to describe it. Were I in her place I imagine I would prefer not to know."

Janeway's eyes briefly widened in surprise. "Coming from a former Borg drone," she said, "that's saying something."

"One of these days," B'Elanna said. "I'll forget about that whole thing." She shook her head. "I'm gonna need a stiff drink after my shift is over."

"I may join you for that," Janeway said. The two women continued talking about the machine. Seven of Nine excused herself and stepped outside engineering, where she just leaned against a wall, and thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Joe Carey's voice.

"Seven, you all right?"

"I am fine Mr. Carey. Merely," Seven paused, searching for the right way to verbally express what she was thinking and feeling. "experiencing emotions I am not used to. It will pass."

"Okay. Well, if it doesn't, hopefully the Doctor or Mr. Tuvok can help with that." Carey politely nodded, then started to head into engineering. "Oh," he said, pausing in the doorway. "I haven't heard anything new about Harry. Is he okay?"

"According to the Captain, he is alive but sleeping. We should know more about the situation once he has awoken and is able to report."

"Good to know. Thanks, Seven." Carey entered engineering fully, and the door closed behind him. Seven wasn't sure what she should do next, as she did not have any specific duties for the next several hours. She decided to spend that time in her alcove, although she did not need any significant amount of recharging at that moment.

While walking, she thought more about what she had been told by the captain. By the time she reached her alcove, she had decided that it was best to simply not bother with any philosophical, existential introspection on the matter. This crew was the _Voyager_ crew. That all but the operations officer and one child were exact genetic duplicates with all the same memories up to the point of duplication was irrelevant. She also agreed with the Captain's statement that it was best that Naomi Wildman not be told, at least for the foreseeable future, if ever. With a sigh of relief, Seven of Nine stepped into her alcove, closed her eyes, and began to recharge.

* * *

Harry thought it was a dream for a moment when he opened his eyes to see a clean, unbroken sickbay. He looked around, and he saw the Doctor talking to the Captain. He started to sit up when both suddenly noticed him.

"Mr. Kim, I would advise against-"

"I'm fine Doc," Harry said. "Thanks for the good night's rest. I needed that."

"Harry," Captain Janeway said, "what happened?"

"It's a long story Captain. but first, what date is it?"

Janeway told him, and he tensed up. "Have we already entered Krenim space?"

"Krenim? Why does that name sound so familiar? Are they responsible for what happened to you?"

"Yes. Well, mostly. Why haven't we-"

"I ordered a full stop once we determined that you were really Ensign Kim, as well as what the device you were found with was for. It's an ingenious piece of work."

"B'Elanna and Seven of Nine deserve the lion's share of the credit for that Captain. As for the Krenim, they aren't the bad guys. Not in this timeline anyway. And it needs to stay that way. I can show you on our long range sensors where they are, but the short version is we'll need to go around their space. It'll add more than six months to our journey home, but trust me, it's worth it. I didn't do what I did so I could watch most of the crew die again."

"Most?" the Doctor said. "Apart from yourself who else survived?"

"I'm prepared to make a full report Captain, I'd just like to get something to eat first."

"Of course Ensign," Janeway said. "Take your time. We'll stay where we are until we know what our path around Krenim space will be."

"Thank you." Harry laughed. "After a year of rations, even Neelix's cooking will taste good."

"Let's not overstate things, Ensign," the Doctor said.

* * *

When Harry sat down at a table in the mess hall, he could feel the eyes of the other crew members on him. It seemed like all of them wanted to walk up to him to say something; either offer condolences on what he went through, or to ask the question that he didn't want to answer unless he had too. "Did I die?" The condolences he could handle, even if he didn't necessarily want them. The question on the other hand…

"Harry! Glad to see you up and around," Tom Paris said, moving from his table to come join him. Harry briefly flinched at the sudden noise, but was able to keep his calm. B'Elanna grabbed the pot of coffee the two had been sharing and followed Tom.

"How are you doing?" she asked.

"The Doctor was able to fix my ankle," Harry said. "I'm just getting something to eat and then going to my quarters. He wants me to take a few days off from my regular duties, and I plan to take him up on that."

"I didn't even hear about your ankle," Tom said. "What happened to it?"

 _How much do I tell them?_ Harry thought. He decided that these two at the very least he could be more open with. He hadn't seen either of them die. Tom might well have been alive right up to the moment the Krenim Time Ship that Chakotay and a handful of Krenim officers they'd turned to their side had sabotaged to make this moment possible. And as far as he knew, the allied ship Torres had been reassigned to to help upgrade the weapons was still fighting right up to the moment time changed. If this had been Seven of Nine in front of him, or Joe Carey, or Ken Dalby, or Chell, or Vorik, or…

"It got twisted on my way to deflector controls," he said, more to stop the flood of faces in his memory than anything else. "It was far from the worst thing that happened to me during the Year of Hell."

"The Year Of Hell?" Torres said.

"That's what we took to calling it. For nearly a full year, we were either in hiding, or getting pounded by Krenim ships of varying power levels, each time the timeline was changed. But that's a little more complicated than I feel like getting into right now."

"I appreciate that," Tom said. "There are days when I feel like I should file a restraining order on temporal mechanics."

"Basically, the problem was this thing called the Time Ship. It did, well, pretty much exactly what you think it did; altered time lines. So much so that in some time lines the race that built it didn't even exist. Don't try to figure that one out, it'll just make your head hurt."

"Too late," Torres said, wincing.

"I'm giving you guys the really short version here, largely because a lot of it is kind of painful to remember, but also because the Captain is expecting a full debriefing later."

"I understand," Tom said.

"So is that why we, well, they, no let's go with we," Torres said. "Is that why we built the temporal shield generator you were found with?"

"Ironically, no," Harry said. "Not directly anyway. We didn't actually even know about the Time Ship yet. The generator, or at least a crude prototype of it, was built as a defense against Krenim torpedoes. They, at least in the timeline where we were in at the t- at that moment, had torpedoes that were able to penetrate our shields by way of some kind of temporal shifting. By existing in and out of time it was impossible to shoot them down with our phasers even though they moved slower than our torpedoes do."

"Impressive," Torres said. "I kind of wish you'd brought back some specs on those with you."

 _If Seven had been the one to make it to that room..._ Harry thought.

"If you knew how many crewmen those things had killed, B'Elanna, I don't know if you'd ever even want to look at a picture of one ever again," Harry said.

"Oh. Oh god, Harry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay. It's just tough to talk about." Harry took a large gulp from his cup of water, as he thought about whether or not to continue. As uncomfortable as bringing this all up was, even the short version, he was just so glad to be talking to two of his friends again he felt he could ignore the slight shuddering of his hands, or the mild nausea in his stomach. Keeping as much of the talk as possible to the technological side of things also helped. _I just hope it doesn't feel this bad when it comes time to tell the whole thing_ , he thought.

"You know, Harry, if you want we could talk about this later or-"

"No, Tom, I think I need to do this. Just bottling it up isn't going to help me." Harry took a large bite out of what he hoped was a dinner roll and after swallowing it, continued.

"After months of this, we caught a break. One torpedo impacted against the hull, but didn't explode. Tuvok and Seven of Nine went to disarm it, but accidentally triggered it. But the good news was, they were able to get enough tricorder data out of it that we were able to adapt our shield's to the frequency of, um," Harry closed his eyes, trying to remember all the details, and drawing a blank. "Dammit Seven," he muttered.

"Harry?" Torres said. Harry sighed.

"She had all the data about everything, I was only going with her to make sure she made it to deflector control. But during the last fight, a bulkhead collapsed. She didn't make it. She should be here right now, reliving this shit."

"Harry, look, it's okay," Tom said. "You don't need to remember every exact detail. No one's expecting you to."

"Yeah, yeah, I guess you're right. That's gonna make the debrief with the Captain tough though. The point I was getting at is, with the information Tuvok and Seven got before the torpedo went off," Harry decided to leave out the part where Tuvok lost his eyesight as a result to that explosion, "we were able to build a crude defense against it. That's how we first started to figure out what was happening. The time ship had done, something, we don't know what, that was altering the timeline. When the temporal wave hit us however, whatever they were trying to change backfired on them. The Krenim war ship that had been attacking us was suddenly just a merchant vessel, and the Krenim empire was a third of the size it had been when we were fighting them."

"I think it's safe to assume that that wasn't the time ship's plan," Tom said.

"Exactly. When they came looking for us, we were in bad shape. We got away, but lost more than a dozen crewmen in the attack, and that was on top of the dozen more we'd lost in the months before that. Whole sections of the ship had to be closed off because we just didn't have enough materials to repair all the hull breaches." Harry looked down at his food.

"And to top it off, during the fight the Krenim were able to get through our shields long enough to beam two people off the ship."

"Who did they get?" Tom said.

"You. And Commander Chakotay."

"Damn," Tom muttered. "That's a bit rough to hear."

"If it's any consolation," Harry said. "it did turn out for the best. I hope you don't mind me skipping ahead a bit in the story."

"Not at all," Torres said.

"I don't know all the details obviously, but somewhere along the line, based on the messages you and the Commander were able to sneak to us, you were able to take advantage of a fracture in the crew. Apparently, their captain had gotten to a point in the original mission, before we'd ever even come along, where they could've stopped. But because one colony, one where his wife had lived, hadn't been 'restored,' he decided to keep going, changing time over and over again."

"Just to save one person?" Tom said. "I bet that didn't sit well with the rest of his people." He looked over at B'Elanna. "Though I guess I can't entirely blame him either," he said.

"Flatterer," Torres said.

"Anyway," Harry said, sounding irritated. "we figured out a way to destroy the time ship and reset everything, but the problem was that _Voyager_ needed to have its temporal shield off-line completely for it to be reset too. Which created a new set of problems, because how would we be able to warn ourselves to avoid Krenim space if everything was just reset. I, I know I helped figure out how we could get around that, I just wish I could remember. So much of those last days of the year are just a blur. I remember us reaching out to other races who were at war with the Krenim to build a fleet to attack the time ship, and the time ship being sabotaged so we could destroy it. I can remember Seven dying, losing contact with the bridge after a bad hit, and getting to deflector control. And the rest, well, you know that part." Harry stood a bit too quickly after rushing the end of the story.

"I, I need to go lie down," he said, his hands shaking worse now.

"Okay," Tom said, looking concerned for his friend. "Let us know if you need anything."

* * *

The thing that Seven of Nine found the most aggravating about the _Voyager_ 'rumor mill' was not that it existed at all, though that did annoy her as well, but the fact that even though she refused to actively take part in it, she was as much a part of it as anyone else on this ship. She was certain she did not need to know that Harry Kim had been overheard in the mess hall saying that she was supposed to be the one who stayed with the temporal shield in order to warn _Voyager_ to steer clear of Krenim space, but now she did. She had to fight back to urge to demand the crewman who told her explain what exactly she was supposed to do with that information. Instead she decided to ask politely.

"May I ask why you felt I needed this information Mr. Chell?"

The overweight Bolian, former Maquis crewman opened his mouth to reply, closed it, opened it again, then sighed.

"You probably didn't," he said. "Nevermind, forget that I said anything."

 _I wish I could_ , Seven thought. The Bolian went on his way, and Seven continued on her own, which was to familiarize herself with areas of the ship she didn't usually go to, just in case she might need to in the future. Reading the design specs for the ship were one thing, and she had done that very early after she was added to the crew, but she had learned that time in the Delta Quadrant had led to changes in areas of the ship ranging from the major due to repairs, to the cosmetic in order to help aid the adjustment for crew members hit hardest by their being stranded in the Delta Quadrant. As such, seeing these areas of the ship for herself provided an insight that simply looking at a chart would not provide.

What she did not expect to see on her way to the aeroponics bay that been established by now-former crewmember Kes, was Harry Kim, sitting against the wall in the bay. Most of the food that was being grown here had already been harvested for use in the mess hall, so no one was likely to be down here for awhile except for the routine watering, and that was only if there were any signs that the automated process wasn't working. This of course made it a good place for someone to be alone. Kim was in a clean uniform, but he did not have his comm badge with him, and wasn't in his quarters. Seven deduced the situation fairly quickly, and decided to leave, not wanting to bother someone who she did not need to speak to and had gone to some lengths to make sure he'd avoid any personal contact for the time being.

"Hi," Harry said.

"Ensign Kim, I am sorry to have bothered you."

"Nah, it's okay. Turns out the being alone thing isn't helping any either." Harry stood up, and smoothed out his uniform. He went over to a nearby table, and picked up his comm badge from where Seven had been unable to see it when she entered.

"I'm sure the Doctor can provide a medical treatment for your post-traumatic stress," Seven said.

"Yeah," Harry said, his tone getting angrier with every other word. "No reason why I can't do it now. Except I just keep making up excuses for why I can't do it yet. I know I should, I know I should, but I just can't."

"Ensign Kim," Seven said in as stern a voice as she could manage without yelling, "your brain chemistry has been altered due to an extreme amount of stress suffered over a long period of time. Any excuse you make for yourself is the result of this chemical imbalance, which is treatable. While I cannot order you to sickbay to deal with this issue I strongly suggest that you do so as soon as-"

"Seven, tell me something," Harry said. Seven suspected that Harry might try to interrupt her, but a calmly delivered question was not one of the ways she had anticipated.

"Tell you what?" she said.

"I was just thinking about the last thing you said before you died, in my timeline I mean. When I was trying to get you out from under the rubble you called out Samantha Wildman's name. At first I thought whatever you two had going was something that happened during the Year of Hell, but the more I think about it the more it occurs to me that there was something there even before then and that it took the Krenim attacks to bring it to the forefront. Since those attacks probably aren't going to happen now, I just want to say that if you care about her in this timeline too, tell her. Life's too damn short." With that Harry put his comm badge on and left aeroponics. Seven simply stood there.

 _Tell her what exactly?_ she thought. _I don't even know what exactly my feelings about her are. Sexual? Romantic? Friendly? I've been a emotionless drone for most of my life. If I was in love with her, how would I even know? For that matter, she's already said she still loves her husband, even though as far he knows she's-_

"Seven, are you alright?" Seven flinched when she heard the voice from behind her. She turned around and saw Neelix, holding an empty metal bowl, and looking concerned.

"Sorry to startle you," he continued. "I just came down here to double check. I think I might've dropped a couple of Creterakian onions last time I was here."

"I was merely, thinking," Seven said, actually grateful for once for an interruption.

"About what?" Neelix said.

"A personal matter." Neelix looked for a moment like he was going to press the issue.

"Okay then," he said. "Carry on. I'll just get looking for those stray onions."

* * *

"Mom?" Naomi said.

"Hmm? Oh sorry sweetie. It's my turn isn't it?" Samantha said. While she moved her piece on the game board that she'd picked up on Sikaris before Naomi had been born.

"Mom, are you okay? You've been really weird lately. You just get quiet, and stare at things, and it kinda worries me."

"I'm fine Naomi."

"Are you still sick?"

"What do you mean 'still?'" Samantha said, wondering where this was going.

"Well," Naomi said, now ignoring her own turn. "didn't those invisible alien scientist people who were doing nasty stuff to everybody hurt your leg?"

"Oh, that," Samantha said, chuckling. "No, no, I'm all good. The Doctor got me fixed up real quick, just like everyone else."

"So, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I swear."

Naomi's face scrunched up in the way it always did when she didn't believe what someone was telling her.

 _My kid's too damn smart,_ Samantha thought. _I'd better tell her something or she's not going to let this go._

"I guess it was just one scare too many sweetheart. Fact is, those people who were experimenting on us? Not the weirdest or even the scariest thing I've seen since I joined this crew. Not by a longshot. There are stories I'm just waiting for you to be old enough to understand better 'cause I know you'll love the hear them. But after awhile, it starts to add up, and sometimes when you're dealing with a lot of stuff, it doesn't take something big to throw you off. Do you understand what I mean?"

Naomi's face was now in 'I'm thinking, I'm thinking' mode. After about thirty seconds, she shrugged.

"I think so. You're stressed. I've heard the Doctor talk about stress before. It can be very bad for you."

"Yes it can," Samantha said, "but don't you worry, I'm dealing with it. I'll be fine." She leaned over and kissed her daughter on the forehead. "Now, I believe it's your turn."

While Naomi deliberated her next move, Samantha went back to thinking about what she had really been thinking about; Seven of Nine, and the attraction to her she felt, and the guilt that that brought along with it.

 _This would be so much easier if I just knew for sure that Greskrendtregk thought I was dead and had moved on,_ she thought. _I don't want to cheat on my husband, but I can't hold on to this hope of seeing him again forever. I wish I had someone I felt I could talk to about this._

 **Chapter Four**

"I think it's safe to say that the new astrometrics lab is huge success," Harry Kim said, holding up a glass as he spoke. "A whole week without any bugs or problems whatsoever."

"If I were inclined to superstition," Seven of Nine said, "I would say you are tempting fate with that remark. Also, please do not hold that beverage so close to the console."

Harry shrugged, and gulped down all the liquid in the glass in one go.

"How are your PTSD treatments going?" Seven said. "We have not had the chance to speak since the incident with the Mari."

"Well, the medication the Doctor has me taking daily makes me feel dehydrated, but the stress relief holodeck program he gave me is helping a little. I don't find myself randomly crying in the middle of the mess hall anymore."

"It's only been a few weeks Ensign Kim, give it time."

"Oh how would you know?" Harry snapped. "Like the Borg ever have to deal with post-traumatic stress."

Seven allowed her concern for her crewmate to show on her face, instead of trying to maintain a neutral expression like she did most of the time. The fact was, while she wasn't attracted to Harry the way he had been to her before, she did find that she respected him. In fact she might even one day go so far as to call him a friend.

"You are correct. While I did witness combat as a member of the Collective, I have never experienced anything quite like what you've been through."

Harry sighed.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you Seven."

"No apologies necessary. Such behavior is a common symptom of your condition based on what I've read. If you would prefer to continue the routine diagnostics of this lab on your own, I will not be offended."

Before Harry could reply, the door to astrometrics opened. Captain Janeway and Chakotay entered. Harry looked for somewhere to hide his glass, but failed to before it was noticed.

"Ensign Kim, are you drinking on duty?" Chakotay said. Harry opened his mouth to reply, but Seven decided to intervene.

"I can vouch that the beverage in question was non-alcoholic Commander," she said. "The medication that the Doctor has him on currently leaves him feeling dehydrated."

Chakotay didn't look like he believed her, but after sharing a look with Janeway, he abandoned the point.

"We just came by to see how the new and improved astrometrics lab was doing," Janeway said. "We haven't had much of a chance to look at it when we're not in the middle of some kind of crisis."

Seven's eyebrow raised at that. "Captain, there have been approximately three days within the past week where you could've come down here to observe its status."

Janeway nodded. "True, true. And it is entirely my own fault for not taking advantage of those opportunities. I can't put all of it on me trying to help B'Elanna last week."

"That was a pressing issue at the time," Seven said. "And I do not see a way in which an astrometrics lab would've been useful in that situation. It is also worth noting that the day we first activated the upgraded lab was the day that-" Seven stopped abruptly.

"That the whole thing with me showing up a year older and battle fatigued happened?" Harry said. "You don't need to walk on eggshells around me Seven. I'm damaged but I'm not broken."

"So," Chakotay said in an obvious attempt to get the conversation back on it's original track. "The new lab. Let's see it in action."

* * *

"While I'm flattered that you feel I can help with this issue, Ensign Wildman," the Doctor said, "I am a medical doctor, not a counselor. Psychological issues are not my area of expertise, and when it comes to romance, my experience is limited to one Vidiian doctor and one hologram, so I'm not sure how much help I could be there."

"I'm well aware of all of that Doctor," Samantha said. "In fact you often like to remind everyone how you are a Doctor not a whatever. But in case you forgot, we do not have a proper counselor on board. I probably could've talked to Kes about this if she were here, but she's not. My daughter is too young, and while he's certainly gotten better about it over the years, Neelix still has issues with letting things slip, and I'd rather not have the whole crew know about this."

The Doctor titled his head and looked up slightly. "He _has_ gotten better about that hasn't he?" he said. "In more ways than one in fact. I remember how he used to-"

"Doctor," Samantha said, her arms crossed and face stern like it was whenever she needed to chastise her daughter. "My issue, please."

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Coming to me for relationship advice," he said. "That should end well. You want my thoughts on the matter? Very well." He turned to face Samantha Wildman directly, his arms crossed now as well. "Having thought about it over the past few days since you told me, I have come to the conclusion that if you didn't want to start a relationship with Seven of Nine, you wouldn't be talking to me in the first place. You simply wish to use me to assuage your guilt over your husband, who I remind you, almost certainly believes you are dead. You would hardly be the first person with a partner or partners back home who has started a relationship on board, and unless we were to somehow stumble across a wormhole that would take us back to the Alpha Quadrant before 0100 hours tomorrow you wouldn't be the last either."

Samantha sighed, mouthed an expletive, then turned around and left sickbay.

"You're welcome," the Doctor said behind her before returning to his reports.

* * *

The next day, Harry Kim and Seven of Nine were both in the astrometrics lab again, making some additional improvements to the consoles. They worked silently for the most part, only talking about the work, until Harry suddenly stopped working.

"Look, Seven, about yesterday, you didn't have to cover for me," he said. "It was synthohol in my glass. I'd still be in trouble, sure, but it's not like I'd be drunk or hungover on duty."

"Hopefully it is not something that I will need to do again," Seven said. "I don't have any particular moral objection to lying, I just find it far more pragmatic not to. I made an exception in your case out of concern."

"Concern? For me?"

"Ensign Kim, I tell you this in the strictest confidence. You are one of the very few people on this ship that I would consider not just a shipmate, but a friend. Friendship is a new concept to me, but on a ship of individuals I believe it to have its benefits. You were among the first people on this ship to treat me as more than just a drone. I have not forgotten that, and I do appreciate it."

Harry seemed shocked at what he just heard.

"Wow," he said. "I'm not sure what to say except, thank you. I-" Harry stopped when he heard the door to astrometrics open. He turned to see Samantha Wildman standing in the doorway, as if she was unsure whether or not to actually enter. Harry looked at Seven and winked, much to Seven's confusion.

"I'll leave you two alone," he said as he headed for the door. That was the moment she realized what Harry meant by his wink, and was suddenly nervous.

"Ensign Wildman, how can I help you?" Seven said.

"Your name, before you were assimilated? It was Annika, right? Annika Hansen?"

"That is correct."

"It's a pretty name."

"I've been told that by more than one crewmember. What is the purpose of this line of questioning?" It was only once she'd finished that question that Seven noticed that Samantha was slowly getting closer, like she wanted to stand right next to her or in front of her, but was reluctant for some unknown reason.

Samantha took a deep breath.

"Seven of Nine, before I continue I need you to answer my next question as honestly as you possibly can. It's important, so I need you think long and hard about it before you answer. I don't want whatever just pops into your head, understand?"

"That should not be difficult," Seven said, her tone still level even though her heart rate had quickened considerably. Samantha had stepped closer know. Seven could tell from her Borg enhanced hearing that her heart was beating faster as well.

A metaphorical voice in the back of Seven's mind that she had heard before, a voice Tuvok had referred to as "an inner monologue," was screaming at her now. _This is it! This is what you've wanted. She wants you as much as you want her._

"What is your question," Seven said, slowly, not wanting to betray her unusual excitement.

"I've been thinking about that night, weeks ago when you touched my hand during dinner. And before that, when you were, um, looking at me when I walked away. What I want... no. What I need to know, is this purely sexual attraction, or do you have romantic feelings for me?"

Seven of Nine found herself speechless; a feeling she did not often have. Another voice in her mind started speaking now, this one much more cynical. _She doesn't love you, even if she thinks she does. You're more machine than human. You're still a Borg no matter what you look like now, and she probably knew people who died at Wolf 359. Just let this go. Why do you want a relationship anyway? What does that get you? If she likes you at all it's for your breasts, or your behind, same as everyone else on this ship._

"I am not 100% certain," Seven said, slowly, deliberately choosing each word. "I have attempted... relations, on the holodeck with women from a program the Doctor suggested to me, but I was, um," Seven took a deep breath. "I was unable to perform." Seven stopped and looked down, feeling embarrassed. "I don't know" was almost certainly not what Samantha was hoping to hear.

"Seven?" Samantha said, concern obvious in her voice. "What are trying to say? About the holograms I mean."

"They weren't you," Seven said. "I do not know where this attraction came from, I barely know you any better than anyone else on this ship, but, but..." Seven couldn't find the right words to finish her answer, so she elected to take a desperate action. She took a large step forward, put her arms around Samantha's waist, and pulled her in close.

"I apologize in advance for this very inappropriate behavior," she said quietly before closing her eyes and pressing her lips to Samantha's. Samantha Wildman seemed to resist for approximately one half of one second, before she started to kiss back, moving her own hands to Seven's back. After nearly a full minute, Samantha finally pulled away.

"Apology accepted," she said before she started to laugh, putting one hand on the side Seven's face.

"My inner monologue is an idiot," Seven said, smiling for what she was pretty sure was the first time since she'd been a child, before she was assimilated.

Samantha's face scrunched up in confusion. "You're gonna have to explain that one to me Annika."

"Later," Seven said. "But, for the record, I'll only let you call me that."

"Fair enough," Samantha said, as the two of them held hands and looked into each other's eyes.

"I suppose now's as good a time as any to address the issue of how public we are with this," Seven said. "I'm not sure I'm ready for all the questions I'll inevitably get from the rest of the crew just yet, though the Doctor already knows about my attraction to you, as does Harry Kim."

Samantha's head tilted at that.

"Why would you tell Harry-"

"I didn't. Apparently in the alternate timeline, during the so-called Year of Hell, you and I began a relationship after the Krenim attacks began. According to him, I died calling out your name."

"Ah, I see. That's rather sad actually. Did he tell you what happened to me and Naomi during that year, by any chance? I've been meaning to ask him, but I'm just never sure how. Plus I don't want to trigger him." Before Seven could answer, Samantha winced slightly. "Right, Naomi. I wonder what she'll think of this. Us, I mean."

Seven thought about it for a moment. "The two likely outcomes that spring immediately to mind are that she'll feel like you stole her friend from her, or she'll be excited at the prospect of me spending more time in your quarters."

"Hell, maybe it could be both. Obviously I'll have to tell her, I don't like keeping secrets from my daughter. Do you want to be there for-"

The ship suddenly shuddered. The red alert klaxons began going off, and Samantha let out a frustrated groan.

"Oh you have got to be kidding," Samantha said. "Don't we usually get at least a week between crises?"

"I believe that is the average for this ship, yes. One would think you'd be used to this by now," Seven said with a smirk.

Samantha laughed briefly, then looked contemplative.

"You do have a cute smile. Just don't ever feel like you have to do it on my account. I'd rather earn it than ask for it." Samantha started to head for the exit, but stopped. "Oh, um, Annika, next time we meet, we need to have a talk about this little thing called 'oversharing.'"

Seven thought about that statement for a moment. "Are you referring to me telling you about the holodeck program," she said, "or your death in the alternate timeline?"

"Yes," Samantha said. "I don't really like thinking about my own mortality, you know?"

"Understandable," Seven said. "I'll see you later then?"

"Of course."

* * *

By the time Seven of Nine learned what had happened, the damage had already been done. The ship had been attacked by pirates, whose ships were equipped with high power transporters. A number of piece of technology had been stolen from _Voyager_ as result, most importantly the main computer processor.

"Ensign Kim," she said as he spotted him leaving the conference room. "I heard about what happened. I believe I can provide assistance in tracking the pirates responsible."

"You read my mind," Harry said. "I was just going to head down to astrometrics. You were going to suggest extending the ship's sensors using the deep space imaging system?"

"Correct," Seven said. "I must apologize, it had not occurred to me you would come to that conclusion on your own. I underestimated your intelligence."

"It happens. Let's get to work."

"Very well. We'll need to decompile databanks 59-17 in order to isolate an algorithmic feedback that is interfering with the resolution."

"Started already. Good call. The sooner we can find these people the sooner we can get back everything they stole from us."

"Is it true that they got the Doctor's mobile emitter as well?" Seven asked.

"Yeah," Harry said. "He's not too happy about that."

"Knowing the Doctor as I do I'm certain that's an understatement, but hopefully the Captain considers retrieving that as high a priority as the computer core."

"If she does she didn't say anything about it in the briefing. Why do you say that?"

"I would think it obvious. That emitter was built using 29th century technology. If that level of technology were to fall into the 'wrong hands' as I believe the saying goes-"

"Damn, you're right.," Harry said, quickening his pace. "We better hurry then."

* * *

Samantha Wildman listened as Seven of Nine filled her in on the situation, though she was already aware of the pirate attack and subsequent thefts.

"I imagine the Captain took a whole security detail down there to get our stuff back," she said.

"An incorrect assumption," Seven said, contemplating the drawing that Naomi had made for both of them before going to bed for the night. "She took Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, Lieutenant Paris, and Mr. Neelix with her, though I believe they are going to separate locations. The planet seems to be a trading hub for this sector. I believe the intent is to pose as traders to locate our technology."

"Well that's good," Samantha said as she sat down next to Seven, putting an arm around her shoulder. "So, what do you think?"

"Of the mission, or of the drawing"

"The drawing."

"It is, colorful," Seven said. "I find that I am more pleased by the effort put into the drawing than the actual result."

Samantha smiled as she gave Seven a quick kiss on the cheek.

"And to think I was afraid you'd say you didn't like it."

"That would be inappropriate. Naomi is a child. If art is something she decides to continue to pursue as she ages, she will doubtless get better with practice. Any negative comments I make would only discourage her."

Samantha's mouth hung partially open in shock. "Wow. Annika, I'm not sure how you'll take this, but you already seem to be thinking like a parent. That is amazing."

Seven leaned to the side, resting her head on Samantha's shoulder.

"I take it as a compliment," she said, closing her eyes and sighing contentedly. "Shall I leave it here? I can't think of any place in cargo bay 2 where I could put it."

"No problem. I can put it with her other drawings. I've been saving all of them of course."

Samantha looked over at the door to her daughter's room.

"Do you think she's asleep by now?" she whispered.

Seven glanced in the same direction.

"I can hear her reading," Seven said. "I think she's trying to pronounce some of the longer words in the text."

"Enhanced hearing?" Samantha said.

"Yes."

"You don't use that to eavesdrop, do you?"

"Never intentionally, but I can't exactly turn my audio implants off. At least not currently. I would be willing to talk to the Doctor about adding that as a feature. It would certainly come in handy. There are a number of things I have learned since coming aboard that I feel I would've been better off not knowing."

Samantha snorted out a laugh.

"I can believe that," she said as she started gently stroking Seven's hair.

"With regards to your question about Naomi, I do think it's likely that if we attempt what we were planning tonight, she would likely hear us."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"Perhaps it is for the best. I believe it is customary in many human cultures to wait until the third date, and we may not agree on if this counts as our second or not."

"What do you mean?"

"Our dinner, the night I accidentally revealed my affections for you, just after we survived our encounter with the Srivani."

"Oh, that," Samantha said, regretting how she'd handled things when Seven had touched her hand that night. "Well, that wasn't a date per se, but at the same time we could probably count it as being one in hindsight."

Seven seemed to think about that for a few moments, before shrugging. "I'm not an expert on human relationships in general, let alone romantic ones. I'll defer to your judgement."

"The three dates thing isn't really a hard and fast rule," Samantha said. "but if that's how you want to do this you don't have to worry about me pressuring you."

"Admittedly it does seem rather arbitrary. That said, the concern about Naomi walking in on us is perfectly valid. And there is the possibility that I may be called upon to aid in acquiring our stolen technology." Seven sighed, sounding disappointed.

"Perhaps I could use the extra time to read up on more techniques," Seven added.

Samantha patted Seven on the head, smiling.

"There's only so much you can learn about sex from books babe, trust me," she said.

"Well I would ask any crew members who I know to have experience with sexual activity, but I believe that would be considered impolite," Seven said.

"Depends on who you ask, but that's probably a good idea. I wouldn't worry though. As long as we communicate with each other properly I see no reason why it won't go well. If at any point I do anything that makes you uncomfortable let me know, and we can do something else."

"I can't imagine anything you'd do to me would cause discomfort," Seven said, smiling.

Samantha chuckled. "Unless you're into that sort of thing."

"What?"

"I'll explain some other time."

* * *

"I really wish you would keep up with your appointments more often Seven," the Doctor said. "Your ocular interface is out of alignment. Again."

"I hadn't noticed," Seven said. "My vision has not been impaired today at any point."

"Regardless, you are supposed to come in for your examinations once a week." The Doctor continued his scans with his tricorder before putting it down to pick up the piece of equipment he'd need to adjust Seven's non-organic eye.

"It's a good thing you did come in today, since I can't go to you at the moment."

"The Captain and Lieutenant Tuvok should have our stolen technology recovered in a short time. You will no doubt have your mobile emitter back by tomorrow at the latest."

"I'm sure the Captain appreciates your confidence in her abilities," the Doctor said. "So," he added while he continued his work. "Have I missed anything interesting on board lately?"

"Nothing of import," Seven said. "Have you completed the necessary adjustments?"

"Oh, yes certainly. It wasn't a serious misalignment. If it were, you wouldn't need me to tell you." The Doctor smiled and put down his instrument. "As for there not being anything of import, I heard there was something of a fuss in the mess hall today."

Seven sighed. "Lieutenant Torres and I had a disagreement, but it is no longer a matter for concern."

"Just a disagreement? I heard there was shouting involved."

"None of this is relevant to either the status of my implants, or to the Captain's efforts to reclaim the computer core and your mobile emitter. Why are you so invested in such trivialities?"

"Isn't it obvious?" The Doctor said, not trying to hide his annoyance. "Without my mobile emitter I'm stuck in sickbay. Again. I no means to move about the ship and hear about what's going on unless someone tells me, but people don't stop in sickbay just to chat, except for Kes when she was still here. And Naomi sometimes. But that's beside the point. I feel like I'm in a prison."

"One that you will be able to leave once we have retrieved the mobile emitter," Seven said. "You must be patient. And before you say anything, I am aware of the irony of that statement coming from me considering my own behavior. Pointing it out to me would be redundant."

The Doctor sighed.

"Yes, yes, you're right of course. Forgive my outburst."

Seven sighed as well. "If you must know, Torres and I were working on some astrometric data. There was a disagreement, and she chose to become hostile rather than counter my argument. She called me an 'automaton,' and uttered a string of profane Klingon insults."

"Interesting," the Doctor said. "So, who was right? About the data I mean."

"I was. May I go now?"

"Wait, wait, I want more details. Maybe you could translate B'Elanna's-"

"Tuvok to Seven of Nine. Please report to the astrometrics lab."

Seven tapped her comm badge to reply. "I'll be right there," she said. The Doctor nodded.

"Very well," he said. "Perhaps we can continue this conversation later, assuming you don't mind discussing such 'trivialities.'"

Seven of Nine started to leave sickbay, but paused at the door.

"Doctor, perhaps I may have something for you more interesting than a minor spat with Lieutenant Torres if you are truly that starved for information. I will require the permission of the other party involved however, so I make no promises."

The Doctor actually felt giddy at the prospect. "Thank you Seven. Thank you very much. Anything to make my internment more bearable."

* * *

"Wait, so you want to tell the Doctor about us?" Samantha said as she stood next to Seven of Nine in the astrometrics lab. Seven had called her there shortly after Tuvok had

left to return to the bridge with the data Seven had gathered from the maps obtained from the Da Vinci hologram.

"If you are concerned about him telling the rest of the crew," Seven said. "I can convince that that would be against his best interests."

"I get that it must be frustrating for him. Having had the freedom to leave sickbay at any time for over a year only to have it snatched away like that. But I don't know if what you're suggesting will make him feel any better."

"I will simply leave out key details. He will doubtless ask me to fill those in the way he wanted to more about my argument with Lieutenant Torres. When I refuse to give him that information, he will likely attempt to piece it together himself. It will keep him distracted until the Captain has recovered our technology, he'll get the emitter back and if we are fortunate he will be too enamored his regained freedom to be bothered with such matters as our relationship."

Samantha thought about it for a moment.

"I don't know," she said. "It seems a bit convoluted. I wish you'd talked to me first."

"I believe I did."

"No, I mean before you suggested you might have some juicy piece of gossip for him."

"Ah. I see. Perhaps that in itself will serve as adequate distraction for him, trying to determine what it was I may or may not have told him."

Samantha nodded. "Yeah, yeah, that could work." She sighed and leaned back against the console. "And that's all setting aside the fact that we don't even really know what kind of relationship we have yet. We really haven't had that much time to talk about it. This whole thing with the stolen computer core has kept us pretty busy. And when we do get time together, Naomi's there too which kind of limits our exploratory options."

Seven made a noise that Samantha has not heard coming from her before.

"Why Annika, are you giggling?"

"I believe I am. I am amused at your choice of euphemism."

"What do you mean?"

"'Exploratory options?' We're alone currently, there is no need for such obfuscation. You are referring to both sexual activity and adult conversation, correct?"

"Well, yes."

Seven shifted a little closer to Samantha, and put her hand that didn't still have Borg tech it on Samantha's back.

"Once we have the computer core back, I believe it would be possible to arrange some time on the holodeck. I have a list of programs that the Doctor gave me last month that-"

"Hold it," Samantha said, putting an index finger over Seven's lips. "Annika, why exactly did the Doctor give you those programs?"

Seven proceed to tell Samantha about what she had done after their unofficial first date; not being aware what blushing was, going to the Doctor about her concerns, everything.

"So he already knows you are attracted to me," Samantha said.

"Yes."

Samantha then let a laugh loud enough that it visibly startled Seven.

"Why was that amusing to you?"

"Because it makes the conversation I had with the Doctor the day I decided to take a chance on us kind of hilarious in hindsight."

Seven opened her mouth to say something, closed it, then sighed. "So you're saying that it's likely he already knows about us," she said.

"If he didn't before today," Samantha said. "he probably figured it out after your little tease about new information."

"It would seem I have a lot to learn about keeping secrets then," Seven said.

"On this ship? Good luck with that, honey."

"In hindsight, perhaps it would be considered cruel to keep the Doctor waiting. Hanging by a thread is the correct expression?"

"That would be a yes on both counts. You go ahead and stay here in case Tuvok needs you for anything else, I'll go talk to him."

Samantha gently patted Seven on the butt before leaving, saying "And send me that list of holodeck programs!" she said as she exited the lab.

 **Chapter Five**

Three weeks later...

"So B'Elanna, I hear you and Seven of Nine seem to be getting along better," Commander Chakotay said as he caught up with the Chief Engineer on her way to her shift.

"In the sense that she's a lot less pushy lately, sure," B'Elanna said. "She still has a bad habit of just working on things without clearing them with a department head first though. And before you say anything Chakotay, I know full well that I used to be like that too. But if I can get over that and learn to follow protocol, so can she. It'd be one thing if it were a life and death matter and she didn't have time to go through proper channels, that I can forgive. Otherwise, it's damn annoying."

"You aren't the only one who's noticed an improvement in her behavior lately. Neelix says she occasionally joins him and Naomi on the holodeck to play in one of her fairy tale stories. And rumor has it she's been helping Ensign Kim deal with his PTSD on the side, though both of them deny it."

"Well, she's certain assimi- wait, poor choice of words there. I mean she's starting to fit in faster than I think any of us expected. And, credit where credit is due, that distraction she came up with to deal with those aliens who were invading our dreams was pretty clever. And Harry played along beautifully. If I hadn't been standing right next to her, I'd have thought she was really kicking his ass."

Chakotay nodded. "So," he said. "do you think she and Harry are-"

"No way," Torres said. "From everything I've been hearing on the ship's rumor mill, Seven's not into guys."

Chakotay shrugged. "Well, I think transporter chief Kitrick hasn't been seeing anyone, maybe someone should get the two of them talking-"

"Sorry to keep interrupting you there Commander, but something tells me you'd have to pry Seven of Nine's eyes off Samantha Wildman's butt first, if Ensign Brooks is to be believed."

Chakotay chuckled. "Oh, so I see that rumor has evolved. First time I heard it, it was Seven being heartbroken over a dinner date going sideways. And then later someone tried to say they saw Ensign Wildman leaving astrometrics with smeared lipstick, and a huge grin on her face. I wouldn't put too much stock in rumors B'Elanna."

"Didn't _you_ just tell me a rumor that Seven was helping Harry Kim out with his psychological issues?"

Chakotay opened his mouth and raised a finger as if to offer a counterpoint, but then he just shrugged.

"Touche," he said.

Before the conversation could continue, Seven of Nine's voice came over Chakotay's comm badge.

"Seven of Nine to Commander Chakotay, please report to astrometrics," she said.

"On my way. Chakotay out."

B'Elanna rolled her eyes.

"You, she says 'please' too," she said, smirking. "Are you two dating or something?"

Chakotay laughed the loudest he had in weeks.

"Right," he said. "like that would ever happen. Besides, if these rumors you talked about are true, you're probably more her type than I am."

"I'd bet five replicator rations that one of the lower deck crewmen already has that as a holodeck program."

* * *

Seven of Nine headed towards Holodeck 1 with mixed emotions. There was the thrill of another clandestine meeting with Samantha, though she hoped that they wouldn't have to keep their relationship a secret for much longer. There was the accomplishment at having discovered the ancient satellite network that would allow _Voyager_ to make contact with the Alpha Quadrant. But there was also a nagging sense of dread, like something bad was about to happen. This was not a feeling she was used too, and she was already certain she didn't like it.

Once she reached the door, she looked around carefully to make sure no one would see her go in, and tapped out a code on the panel next to it. The door slid open and she entered an empty concert hall - the Royal Albert Hall on Earth. She looked around, when she saw a lone figure up in one of the balconies.

"Sam," Seven said, smiling. She made her way up the stairs."Sorry I'm late. I suppose you've heard already."

"About what?" Samantha said. "Oh, and by the way, thank you for agreeing to this. I felt it was time we used the holodeck for a proper date and not just, well, you know." She winked.

"It's amazing Sam. I look forward to whatever performance you have selected. As for the news I am referring to, I'm rather surprised it slipped past you. In astrometrics earlier today, I found an ancient, widespread relay station network. I was able to remotely access the one nearest to our present location, and through it I determined that its reach goes up to the edge of the Alpha Quadrant."

Samantha's eyes went wide. "Honey, I'm sure if I'd heard that I'd remember. That's amazing! Were you able to make contact with Starfleet?"

 _There's that negative feeling again_ , Seven thought. _Why am I worried? Samantha is clearly happy about_ -

That was when it hit her. The Alpha Quadrant. Where Samantha's husband was.

Seven suppressed the urge to frown. "Not directly. We tried to send a signal using modified transmitters, but they were too weak to reach a Starfleet vessel I spotted using the network. Mr. Paris suggested a stronger type of signal, one that wouldn't degrade quite so quickly."

"What did you decide to do? Samantha said, unable to hide her excitement, her grip on Seven's own hands increasing slightly.

 _Maybe I don't have to be so worried after all_ , Seven thought. It had been a few weeks since the two had begun their relationship, and Seven remembered clearly Samantha's own words on what kind of relationship they had; "Let's take it one day at a time."

"A holographic data stream. It was risky, but it was our best chance. We sent the Doctor to the Starfleet vessel. We should know shortly if it was successful."

Samantha laughed and removed her hands from Seven's to throw her arms around her neck and give her a big kiss full on the lips.

"Oh baby, that was genius," Samantha said.

Seven paused for a moment, then looked slightly downward.

"Actually, credit for that idea belongs to B'Elanna Torres. She's the one who came up with the idea to send the Doctor."

"Okay, fair enough. I'm not kissing B'Elanna though."

"I don't consider myself to be the jealous type Sam," Seven said through a wry grin.

"Very funny Annika." After another moment of looking at each other, smiling, laughing, Seven finally got around to an earlier question she'd meant to ask.

"So, which ballet are we seeing?"

"A 2259 performance of _Coppelia_. I'd seen it before, in my academy days, but I'd forgotten about it until you told me that you had a dream about ballet last week."

"I'm still not entirely sure why," Seven said. "Perhaps I was interested in ballet before I was assimilated as a child." Seven then made a show of extending her hand out to Samantha for her to take. "Shall we take our seats?"

"But of course my dear," Samantha said, affecting an accent. "I thought the balcony would be best but if you prefer we could take a floor seat."  
Seven of Nine looked out over the concert hall that would soon be filled with holographic dancers, musicians, and other audience members.

"This is fine Sam," she said.

"Computer, initiate concert," Samantha said. In a moment all the unoccupied seats in the auditorium were filled with various humanoids in formal wear, the orchestra pit filled, and although they weren't on stage yet Seven could see the dancers doing last minute practices backstage from her angle.

"It'll start in a few minutes," Samantha whispered in Seven's ear as she put her right hand over Seven's left, locking their fingers together. Seven smiled at her.

"I'm sure it will be an excellent performance," she said. Samantha shifted in her seat so she could rest her head on Seven's shoulder. It was something she'd done before, both while sitting up, and in bed, and every time it never failed to make Seven feel both happy and safe. While she was occasionally willing to be open with Naomi, Tuvok, and even Harry Kim on occasion, it was only Samantha Wildman who she let see her at her most human. The only exception was tonight, where Seven hid her concern about how Samantha would react once she knew her husband in the Alpha Quadrant would know that not only was his wife alive, but that she'd given birth to his child.

The music began, and the dancers took the stage. Seven pushed aside her thoughts and tried to focus on the concert starting right in front of her. Right as the show began, something unexpected happened.

"I love you Annie," Samantha said softly. It was the first time she had said that phrase to Seven. She had heard from Tom Paris among others than in many humanoid relationships, the first utterance of those first three words was a serious milestone in a relationship. Seven found herself too stunned to reply, so she simply leaned her head into Samantha's, kissing her on the top of her head as she did so, and squeezing her hand as Samantha had done to her moments before.

* * *

Captain Janeway paced back and forth through astrometrics, getting increasingly annoyed. Not only was the Starfleet ship the Doctor had been sent to not back in range of the relay network yet despite it having been more than long enough for him to brief Starfleet on their situation, but now Seven of Nine, who was supposed to have been in this room before Janeway got here, was late.

"You're going to wear out the carpet if you keep doing that, Captain," B'Elanna said.

"What's keeping her? Seven is never late." Janeway stopped walking and tapped her comm badge, but before she could open her mouth, the door to astrometrics opened, and

Seven of Nine walked in. Janeway was prepared to ask Seven why she was late, but she noticed something that stopped her in her tracks. Something about the way Seven was walking was different, more relaxed than she'd ever seen before. And there was something else.

 _Is she smiling?_ Janeway thought. "Nice of you to finally join us, Seven."

"I apologize for my tardiness, Captain," Seven said.

"Would you care to explain why you weren't here when you were supposed to be?" Janeway added.

"I would not. It is a personal matter."

Janeway and Torres shared a look, as if to say to each other "Did she really just say that?" Janeway ultimately decided not to press the issue.

"We can discuss your punctuality later," she said. "We're simply here to ask if you had any new information on the relay network."

"New information?" Seven said.

"You have been continuing to study it, I assume," Torres said.

"I have gathered some new data since we sent the Doctor, yes, but nothing particularly useful to us. I can pull up that information up if you'd like to-" A beeping noise from one of the consoles in astrometrics interrupted them.

Torres, who was closest to it looked down. "It's an incoming transmission," she said.

"Is it the Doctor?" Janeway said.

"Negative," Torres said as Seven moved next to her to look as well. "The Starfleet vessel still hasn't reappeared. It's coming in along the relay though. And it's visual."

"Put it on screen," Janeway said.

A humanoid alien's image appeared on the lab's viewscreen, wearing an armored helmet and an armored mask that covered its nose and mouth.

"Identify yourselves!" it shouted.

"I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship _Voyager_. To whom am I speaking?"

"You are using our technology!" the alien said.

"You mean the sensor network?" Janeway said. "We thought that it was abandoned."

"It belongs to the Hirogen. Terminate your link!"

"No, wait please-" Torres started to say, but the screen returned to the map of the network.

"The link has been severed," Seven said.

"Can you get it back?" Janeway said.

"I can try. Lieutenant, would you be willing to assist me?"

Torres looked dumbfounded for a second. "I- yes of course."

"Do whatever it takes, both of you." Janeway said.

* * *

Samantha Wildman double checked to make sure no one could see her, then quickly stepped up to the door to the astrometrics lab, carrying a bottle of a drink called root beer that she wanted Seven of Nine to try, as well as a container of soup and two spoons from the mess hall.

"Sorry I'm late An-B'Elanna! I, um. Hi? I didn't know you were going to be here."

B'Elanna Torres and Seven were both working on one of the lab's consoles, but had turned to face her when she entered. Torres started to chuckle.

"Ha! I knew it," she said. "Brooks wouldn't lie to me. She's terrible at it."

"Lieutenant," Seven said. "you would be better served by helping me boost the signal gain. Samantha, I apologize, but we ran into a complication with the abandoned sensor net."

Samantha couldn't see her own face, but she was certain she was turning red.

"Right. Well, I just, you know, wanted to make sure my daughter's friend was eating properly. I heard Neelix say-"

"Sam, she's not buying it," Seven said.

"Oh you two are just adorable," Torres said.

"The signal gain, Lieutenant?" Seven said, a bit more forcefully this time.

"Right. I think with just a little more, we can cut through the jamming signal."

 _Jamming signal?_ Samantha thought.

"I warned you," a staticy voice said. Samantha glanced up and saw a black masked alien's image on the screen.

"Let me explain," B'Elanna said.

"No explanations."

"We're lost here, in this quadrant," B'Elanna said. "This network is the only chance we've had to contact home, to let our people know we're alive. We're just waiting on a confirmation they received our message. Once we have it, we'll be on our way."

"All messages will be intercepted," the alien said, looking down. Samantha heard a noise much like those Starfleet consoles made when they were in use.

"He's trying to jam the link again," Seven said. Suddenly, the alien on the screen screamed in pain as electricity exploded from his console, striking him in the face and chest.

"What the hell?" B'Elanna said. "Seven, did you do that?"

"It was clear the Hirogen wasn't going to listen to reason," Seven said. "so I sent a feedback surge along the link."

"Annie," Samantha said. "You didn't kill him, did you?"

"It was a mild shock. He will recover."

"Annie huh?" B'Elanna said. "Well, the captain's not going to be too happy about that but between you and me, good work."

"Thank you. And, please, do not call that me that," Seven said. B'Elanna looked at Seven, then at Samantha, then back at Seven.

"Okay, I get it. That's your thing. I can respect that. I'll go inform the captain about the situation. Keep an eye out for a message from the Doctor."

"Understood," Seven said.

B'Elanna started to walk past Samantha when the latter quickly grabbed the former's forearm. "B'Elanna, I like you, I respect you, and I know you outrank me, but do me favor. Just keep in mind what my girlfriend was able to do with a sensor link if you feel like blabbing to anyone about us. If we decide to share, we'll do that on our terms. Okay?"

"Okay, okay. Far as the captain is concerned you weren't here," B'Elanna said, adding, "You could've just asked me nicely you know," as she left.

Samantha sighed as she carried her beverage and food over to Seven.

"Remember what I said about it being hard to keep a secret on this ship?" she said.

* * *

The next morning, B'Elanna returned to the astrometrics lab to see Seven of Nine already there.

"Did you get a good night's regeneration?" she said.

"I'm uncertain what a bad regeneration cycle would be," Seven said without looking up from her console, "but, yes. Also, I wanted to say 'thank you.' Judging by the lack of inappropriate questions and innuendos on my way to the lab this morning, I can only conclude that you did not tell anyone about my relationship with Ensign Wildman."

B'Elanna was about to say it wasn't a big deal, that she understood what it was like to want to keep a relationship secret during its early stages, but a noise distracted her.

"We are receiving a signal through the sensor network," Seven said.

B'Elanna tapped a few buttons on another console. "It's origin is the Alpha Quadrant," she said. "And it contains a holographic subroutine! He did it! Transfer it to sick bay and inform the captain."

"I will do so," Seven said. B'Elanna turned to make for the exit.

"Lieutenant?" Seven said.

"Yes?"

"Congratulations. Your plan to send the Doctor was risky, but it paid off."

"Thanks, Seven. I have to tell you, 60,000 light years doesn't seem like such a long distance all of a sudden."

* * *

Seven of Nine woke up to see Samantha seated by the viewport, looking out at the streaks of light as _Voyager_ cruised along at warp. She looked at a nearby chronometer and saw that both of them were awake far earlier than they needed to be.

"Is something wrong Sam?" Seven said.

"Hmm?" Samantha said. "Oh, sorry, did I wake you when I got up?"

"I don't believe so," Seven said. "How long ago did you wake up?"

"A few minutes maybe, I wasn't paying that much attention."

"You would appear to be contemplative. Am I correct in assuming this relates to the Doctor's return from the Alpha Quadrant?"

"Good guess," Samantha said. She was silent for several moments after saying that. Seven was unsure if she should say something, but the silence was neither awkward or uncomfortable, so she decided to let Samantha talk to her about what she was thinking if and when she was ready.

"I was thinking about my husband, back home. I imagine finding out that I'm still alive was a shock, never mind what finding out he had a child did to him."

"A mixture of emotions, most likely," Seven said. "Shock, happiness, sadness, among others."

"Sounds about right," Samantha said. She got up and moved back to her bed, where Seven was now sitting upright.

"Annie, tell me something. Do you think I'm being selfish in hoping that he's already moved on, found someone else?"

"I don't know," Seven said. "The decision of choosing whether or not to pursue another relationship after the death, or assumed death as the case may be, of a partner is not something I have any experience in. I do know however, that the grieving process is different for all sentient beings. As I've never met Greskrendtregk, I do not how he would have handled his loss."

"I hope he has. Or does. Let's face it, even though Starfleet knows we're alive, it's still not likely that most of us on the ship will ever see our loved ones back home again. Maybe I am being selfish, just trying to justify what I have going with you to myself, but how could I ever ask him to wait for me, especially for what could be sixty years?"

Seven thought about it for a moment, then simply sighed and shrugged as she reached out a hand to touch Samantha's cheek. "I'm afraid I'm not qualified to answer that question."

"Sometimes I think you might be too forgiving, Annika," Samantha said.

"If that is the case, you may be the only person on this ship who thinks so."

The two women kissed briefly. Samantha looked at the chronometer herself and sighed.

"No point in going back to sleep," she said. "I need to pick up Naomi from Neelix's quarters in about an hour."

"What reason did you give him?" Seven said.

"Some excuse about needing some 'me time.' I don't think he bought it though. He's probably figured out by now that I'm seeing someone, if not who."

"I suppose that means now is as good as any to discuss if we should continue keeping our relationship a secret," Seven said. "I assume that since we did not take separate routes to your quarters last night that we no longer are."

"I actually didn't even think about it last night to be honest. But since you mention it, yeah, I'm not interested in keeping it a secret anymore. It was easier when I thought that maybe this was just a sexual thing but now that I know we're serious…" Samantha trailed off.

Seven shifted closer to her on the bed.

"What's our next step?" she said.

Samantha leaned back, reaching for her uniform to pick it up off the floor. "I think," she said. "That we just stop trying to hide it, and let the chips fall where they may. I'm sure once a few of the less discreet crew members see us together it won't take long. Now I'm kinda wishing I hadn't told B'Elanna to keep quiet."

"An even faster method would be to simply tell Neelix. The whole ship will know before shift change."

Samantha laughed, but shook her head.

"You're not wrong," she said, running her fingers through Seven's hair. "But he's been getting better about that lately. Let's not interfere with his personal growth."

Seven smiled. "I imagine if we did, the whole crew would hold it against us," she said. She found that she was staring at Samantha's lips. "You said an hour, right?"

Samantha smiled. "Why, I believe I did."

* * *

Naomi Wildman went up to the door to her quarters, but found they were locked, like they usually were when her mom and Seven of Nine were having "grownup time," so she shrugged, and took out the PADD that had a book she'd been reading and sat down, leaning against the wall, waiting for them to finish. Neelix had said to her when she left his quarters that leaving early might mean that her mother might not be awake yet, but Naomi had said it was okay.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting when the Captain walked by, but as soon as she noticed she stood up and saluted. "Good morning Captain," Naomi said, trying her best to have the inflection of a proper officer, something she wanted to be some day.

"Good morning to you too Naomi," Janeway said, smiling and returning the salute. "May I ask why are you sitting outside your quarters?"

"'Cause Mom and Seven are having some grownup time," Naomi said. As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized she'd made a mistake. Her mother had told her that she didn't want anyone to know, at least not yet, that Seven of Nine was Mom's girlfriend now, and here she was, blabbing about it to the Captain.

"Oh no, I wasn't supposed to say anything," Naomi said, her face feeling hot all of a sudden. "Captain, please don't tell anyone I told you. Mom might get mad."

Captain Janeway's mouth was hanging open, and her eyes wide. Naomi hadn't yet mastered the art of reading facial expressions, something that the Doctor had offered to teach her, but she was pretty sure Janeway was confused at what she had just heard.

"I, um, I promise. Of course." Janeway was suddenly acting the way that people tended to act when they were trying not to laugh. "Carry on Ms. Wildman," Janeway said as she started to walk away. Naomi breathed a sigh of relief.

 _That was close_ , she thought. Then the door opened.

"Oh, Captain," Naomi heard Seven of Nine say. Seven, standing in the doorway, was in her usual brown jumpsuit, but her hair was loose, and she looked a little sweaty for some reason.

"Seven," Captain Janeway said. The silence that followed made Naomi feel uncomfortable.

"Captain," Seven said, "if you were looking for Sam- for Ensign Wildman she's, um, currently in the sonic shower."

"No," the Captain said, smiling now. "I was just passing by, and stopped to talk to Naomi. She was just out here, reading."

"Good morning Seven," Naomi said. Seven looked down at her as if realizing she was there for the first time.

"Naomi, I was led to believe that your mother would be picking you up from Mr. Neelix later this morning."

"I know," Naomi said, feeling embarrassed. "but I woke up early."

"I see," Seven said. "It is likely that you will be reprimanded for wandering the ship unsupervised."

"Seven," Janeway said, stepping forward and putting a hand on Seven's shoulder. "just so you know, I am perfectly capable of being discreet if you-"

"Actually, Captain," Seven said, smiling herself now, in the way that Naomi only ever saw her do when she was in their quarters. "since you mention it, I can inform you that that is no longer necessary."

"I see," Janeway said. "Well, congratulations on your first foray into human relationships Seven. I'll see you later."

"Thank you Captain." Janeway politely nodded at both Seven and Naomi before heading down the corridor. Naomi tapped Seven on the hip to get her attention.

"Yes?" Seven said.

"So, I don't have to keep it a secret anymore? About you and Mom I mean?"

"That is correct," Seven said. Naomi smiled, and hugged Seven of Nine as hard as she could.

"Yay!" she said.

* * *

Captain Janeway exited the turbolift onto the bridge, still smiling. There were any number of ways that _Voyager_ 's ex-Borg crewmate being in a romantic entanglement could be a problem, but she didn't want to think about any of those at the moment. Right now, she wanted to enjoy the fact that Seven of Nine, after less than a year, was already starting to become part of the _Voyager_ family.

"Captain?" Commander Chakotay said as Janeway took the captain's chair.

"Yes, Commander?"

"I can't help but notice you seem rather chipper this morning."

"'Chipper'? Since when do you use the word 'chipper'?" Janeway said.

"It's just that it's not that often I see you walk onto the bridge looking happy," Chakotay said. "It looks good on you."

"Thank you Commander. But since you mention it, I am in a rather good mood today. I learned that our newest crewmate is really growing up."  
Chakotay's head tilted slightly.

"Seven of Nine? I thought she was going to be in her alcove until 1300 hours today."

"Nope," Janeway said. "Mister Paris, what's our current speed?"

"Holding steady at Warp 7 Captain."

"Good."

"Well?" Chakotay said.

"Well what?" Janeway said.

"Don't leave me hanging here Captain. What has Seven of Nine done that's got you convinced she's finally adjusting to life on _Voyager_?"

 _Should I tell him?_ Janeway thought. _Seven said they weren't keeping it a secret anymore, but still_.

"I'll put it this way Chakotay," Janeway said, leaning over slightly and lowering her voice so that only he could hear it since Tuvok and his superior hearing were not on the bridge yet. "Remember that conversation we had a few weeks ago, regarding rumors about Seven and Ensign Wildman? They're not rumors anymore."

"Really? How did you find out?"

"Well, first Naomi accidentally let it slip, then I just happened to run into Seven as she was leaving Samantha's quarters, and she confirmed it, in her own Seven of Nine sort of way of course."

"So, how are going to handle this?"

"The same way we do every other relationship on board. So long as it doesn't affect performance or ship safety, we just let it go," Janeway said, smiling. "Looking the other way is a proud tradition amongst Starfleet captains you know."

"Given how rarely they're enforced one can't help but wonder why Starfleet ever kept the regs against fraternizing to being with."

Janeway thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "I admit, I haven't given it much thought. Maybe I'd be stricter about it if we were still in the Alpha Quadrant where I could easily kick off a crew member who was a problem. Still, Seven of Nine isn't a child, and Samantha Wildman isn't reckless, I think those two just might-"

"Captain, we're receiving a transmission," Harry Kim said. "Audio only."

"Let's hear it," Janeway said.

The audio was garbled badly, but Janeway could make a few keywords; _Starfleet Command_ being the ones that got her attention.

"Try to clear that up Harry," she said.

"I'm trying Captain," he said.

"Is it coming through the relay network?"

"Affirmative. I think I can, wait, got it."

"This is Starfleet Command to the U.S.S. _Voyager_ ," the still static filled but much clearer message said. "If you are receiving this message, please study it carefully. We have information th-" the message fizzled out. Janeway, standing now, turned to face Harry Kim but he spoke up before she could ask him the obvious question.

"That's all we got," he said. "It looks like the bulk of the transmission is lodged in one of the relay stations."

"Can you tell which one?"

"Yes. It's about 3.8 light years away, on a heading of 274 Mark 13."

"Tom?"

"Course already plotted Captain," Tom Paris said from the helm.

"Mr. Tuvok," Chakotay said, "Full sensor scans. We don't know what Hirogen ships look like, but given how they responded to the last time we used one of their relays they didn't appreciate it."

"Understood Commander," Tuvok said.

 **Chapter Six**

Two weeks later...

"So, that made, what, our third encounter with the Hirogen in the past month?" Neelix said as he set down a tray of various snack foods on the mess hall table where Tom Paris, B'Elanna Torres, Joe Carey, Vorik, and Chell were seated.

"That is correct," Vorik said.

"At least we don't have to worry too much about being overwhelmed by them," Chell said, already reaching for the food. "The reports I read said they are very nomadic and spread out. This past month seems like more of an oddity than common occurrence as far as they are concerned. They might be more dangerous overall, but I don't really feel any more concerned about them than I was over the Kazon or the Vidiians."

"You know," Tom said. "With the benefit of hindsight I'm starting to wonder how the Kazon were ever able to hurt us as much as they did. Put bluntly, they were kind of stupid."

"Seven of Nine once told me that the Borg actually considered them unworthy of assimilation," Neelix said. That elicited a laugh from everyone at the table, except for Vorik, who raised an eyebrow.

"Ouch," B'Elanna said. "I wonder if the Kazon they encountered were actually insulted by that."

"Next time I see her," Carey said. "I should ask Seven if any other races were ever rejected for assimilation like that. If it turns out the Kazon are the only ones so far that'll only make that story even funnier."

The sound of the door to the mess hall opening caught Neelix's attention, and he turned to look at who was entering.

"This might be your chance to ask, Mr. Carey," he said.

"Seven! Sam!" Tom yelled. "Care to join us?"

Seven of Nine and Samantha Wildman, who had walked into the mess hall holding hands, looked at each other. Samantha shrugged, and Seven nodded, and the two took seats next to the others at the long table.

"Neelix, do you have any of those Creterakian onion rings left? Those were amazing," Samantha said. Seven nodded, smiling slightly.

"Indeed," she said. "Among the many food items I have sampled since my removal from the collective, I'd say those by far have been the most appealing."

Samantha frowned. "Uh, excuse me? How many times have I cooked for you?"

Seven tilted her head slightly. "Four. However, I would point out that I cannot give a fair assessment as to the taste of those meals, given my biases towards the preparer."

Neelix wasn't entirely sure, but he thought he saw Seven winking at Samantha when she said that.

"Good save," Tom muttered. Neelix had to suppress a laugh at that one. Samantha simply sighed, shaking her head slightly.

"I'll find some way to make you pay for that, Annie."

"I look forward to it," Seven said.

"Maybe you should start using those onions in your cooking, Ensign," B'Elanna said. "If we have any left that is."

"I'm afraid we'll have to wait on that," Neelix said. "The next crop is already planted in aeroponics, but it'll be months before they'll be full grown, let alone edible. And the batch I had from before has already been used up. Even I'm amazed at how well the dishes I used them in went over. I am glad I was able to get a decent supply of seeds before Kes threw us to the other side of Borg space."

"It might be possible to replicate more," Seven said. "I do not know of any inherent trait to the onions that would prevent the taste from carrying over."

"Eh, it's not the same," Carey said. "I mean, I know most people can't taste the difference between organically grown and replicated food, but I always could."

"Most of the time I can't," Chell said. "Except for fruits though. For some reason when it's fruit I can always tell."

"I can usually tell with Klingon food," B'Elanna said. "Though maybe it's purely psychological, who knows. I don't think anyone's ever gotten around to really studying that."

"While on it's face," Vorik said. "That would seem to be a waste of time and resources, history has shown a number of hugely beneficial technologies, medicines, etcetera that were accidentally discovered while in the process of researching something unrelated. Perhaps we should conduct such a study ourselves."

"Hmm. I don't think that would work," Neelix said. "We'd need a large sample size of people who didn't grow up on replicated food. Right now, you only have me, but after four years I think that if there ever were any differences, my palate has already adapted."

Vorik's eyebrow went up. "That is an excellent point. I had not considered that."

"It's not a bad idea though," B'Elanna said. "Let's table it for now. Maybe we can think of another approach to it later on. It's not high priority though."

More people began entering the mess hall. Neelix stood up, and straightened his apron.

"Well, it's been fun chatting with you all, but it looks like it's back to work for me," he said.

"So," Tom Paris said, shortly after Neelix had left the table. "I've been meaning to ask. How is _Voyager's_ newest couple doing?" He motioned towards Samantha and Seven. The two simply looked at each other, both of them smiling. Seven let out a small chuckle, a noise that up until now only Samantha had ever heard. Samantha rested her chin on her hands.

"We are doing fine Tom, thank you," she said. "And that's all you're getting out of me."

"And me as well," Seven said. "Suffice it to say, I am quite satisfied with the current situation."

"Well don't do too well," Tom said in a joking tone of voice. "If you two beat me and B'Elanna for cutest _Voyager_ couple we might have to have you killed."

"You could try, Mr. Paris," Seven said, completely deadpan. "My senses and strength aren't what they were when I was a drone, but they are still considerably higher than a normal human's."

Samantha sipped from her cup of coffee, then added. "Besides Tom, you say that as though we don't already have you outclassed."

B'Elanna laughed so loud that crewmembers at the other tables stopped what they were doing to look towards them. Vorik sighed slightly.

"I doubt I will ever truly understand human humor," he said. Chell shrugged.

"I rather like it actually," he said. "Better than Bolian humor even, and we can be pretty damn funny when we want to be."

"Well, while you four have your little contest going," Joe Carey said, standing up. "I believe Mr. Vorik and I have work to do in engineering."

"We would be early," Vorik said. "But I see no reason not to start now." He stood up as well, taking one last drink of his tea before following Carey out of the mess hall.

* * *

Seven of Nine turned her head to look at Samantha as the two walked down the corridor, hand in hand, towards astrometrics.

"While I am 99% certain it was all in jest," she said, "we aren't actually involved in any competition with Lieutenants Paris and Torres are we?"

Samantha snorted out a quick laugh.

"No, no, oh god no," she said. She looked up briefly. "Though, we probably would win. If we were. Just sayin'."

"Would that still apply had I not changed into my current outfit as opposed to the one I was given when I first came aboard? That, 'hideous silver cat suit,' I believe you called it?"

Samantha gave a clearly exaggerated shudder.

"Never mention that outfit again," she said. "Seriously, what was the Doctor thinking when he designed that thing?"

"I did not think to ask," Seven admitted. "At the time it seemed irrelevant. Though now, I wonder what I would look like in a proper Starfleet uniform."

"I bet you'd look great. Especially in science blues like mine. In fact…" Samantha stopped walking, and began to remove her Starfleet issue jacket.

"Here, let's see how this looks on you," she said. Seven stood still while Samantha put it on her.

"It's a bit tight," Seven said.

"Well, I am shorter and less, um, endowed than you. But I think it looks good on you. We get one that's more your size, and I bet you'll look fantastic."

"You aren't that much shorter than me, but I see your point. I shall speak to the Captain at the next opportunity," Seven said. "For now though, I must attend to my duties in astrometrics. I shall see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Why- oh, right, you need to recharge in your alcove, I forgot it had been that long already."

Seven smiled as she handed Samantha back her uniform jacket. The two continued walking down the corridor.

"Are you on the bridge today?" Seven said.

"Tomorrow," Samantha said. "I don't actually remember who has that station today, but as for me, I'll be in the lab."

"Very well," Seven said.

"Oh, and before I forget," Samantha said. "Naomi has started a new holonovel that she's really into, so don't be surprised if she doesn't drop by to see either of us today."

Seven nodded. "One of us should make sure she remembers to eat a proper meal today," she said.

"Today shouldn't be too busy. Perhaps we'll have time to go together."

"I'll need to run it by the Captain first, but I see no reason why that can't happen."

Once they reached the door to astrometrics, the two shared a quick kiss before parting ways for the day. "I love you," Seven whispered into Samantha's ear.

"Love you too," Samantha said before turning to walk away. Seven quietly watched Samantha until she'd turned to go down another corridor, then proceeded to enter astrometrics.

* * *

 _What are they doing?_ Seven of Nine thought. She looked at the results of her recent long range scans. They were weeks away even at high warp, but she'd spotted several Hirogen ships, clustered together. While her knowledge on the race was far from extensive, this behavior seemed atypical.

She was entering a note on her PADD to look into the matter further when Captain Janeway entered astrometrics.

"Captain," Seven said with a polite nod.

"How are things going down here, Seven?" Janeway said.

"Fine. There are some anomalous readings I've found, but we are still too far away for enough data to form a hypothesis. I imagine within a few days we will be close enough to acquire the needed data. I would've included that in my daily report. May I ask why you've come to astrometrics in person?"

"I'll be frank with you Seven. I have some, concerns, regarding your relationship with Ensign Wildman."

"Concerns?"

"Seven, I understand that over the past few weeks, you've risked burning out on several occasions, waiting until the last moment to recharge in your alcove."

"That is an exaggeration Captain," Seven said. "The 'last moment' as you put it would already be too late, as by that time I would likely be falling unconscious and therefore unable to enter the alcove under my own power. I admit that of late I will go long enough between recharges that I will be tired and not operating at peak efficiency, and I will even admit that I do this in order to maximize the amount of time I can spend with Sam. But I am not endangering myself, or this ship, with my actions."

Captain Janeway simply stood there for a moment, looking stern.

"Well," she finally said. "I appreciate your honesty. I must admit, I was expecting you to deny what you were doing, or even make excuses for it. Honestly, I should've known better. And you are right that I exaggerated, but not as much as you think. I've spoken to the Doctor, and he shares my concerns."

"I could request an alteration in my schedule, if that would allay your concerns Captain."

"That would be the pragmatic thing to do, Seven, but there is another option you're not considering." The Captain looked even more stern as she stepped closer.

Seven suddenly felt worried. _She's not going to ask me to end my relationship_ , she thought. _Not after she's refused to interfere with the relationships of others on the ship._

"What are you suggesting?"

"Seven, did you know that as a member of this crew you're entitled to a thing called a 'day off?' It would allow you to allocate your time more effectively without risking your own safety. This ship has a crew of over 150, many of whom have at least some expertise in the field of astrometrics. I know none of them know this exact system as well as you and Harry Kim, but-"

"I see your point Captain," Seven said. "I will take your suggestion into consideration."

"Do that," Janeway said. "As for today, I think that barring any unforeseen circumstances, I can let you take off from your shift an hour early. On the condition you use that time to recharge. I'd rather not get in between you and Samantha, Seven, but if this reckless behavior continues I might not have a choice. And trust me, I'd hate to be put in that position. The two of you seem happy together. Let's keep it that way."

"Is that an order, Captain?"

"Very much so."

"Understood." Seven took in a deep breath. "Captain, while you're here, I'd like to discuss the possibility of obtaining a proper uniform."

Janeway didn't respond for several seconds. Seven was about to repeat the question when Janeway finally spoke up.

"Let me guess. A blue one, like Samantha's?"

"How could you possibly know-"

"I overheard Samantha talk about how she thought you'd look better in a regular uniform a few days ago in the mess hall. I'll take that into consideration. Honestly, I'm surprised you never asked sooner."

Seven had to admit to herself that she wasn't entirely sure why she hadn't said anything about the jumpsuits she'd been given since coming aboard, but decided that the Captain didn't need to know about that particular error.

"May I return to my duties Captain?"

"Carry on, Seven."

* * *

Seven of Nine awoke in sickbay, wearing an unfamiliar outfit, and feeling very sore, as though she had been recently injured. The Doctor was standing over her, leaning in close to whisper to her.

"What-"

"Remain calm, and stay quiet," the Doctor said. "There's a Hirogen working in the bio-lab, he might hear us. What do you remember?"

Seven thought about it.

"I remember," she said, pausing to make sure she was correct in what she was about to say. "Sam, and Lieutenant Paris and I were planetside, testing hand held weapons that Kovin was going to trade with us for. He wanted to show me, something, some modified rifle I think. It overloaded, hurt me. I was concerned that Sam was going to try and injure Kovin. I required the use of a dermal regenerator."

"That was nearly a month ago," the Doctor said. "Three weeks ago there was an attack. The Hirogen overwhelmed us. You have no memory of the simulations on the holodeck?"

"What simulations?"

"The neural interface must be interfering with your memory."

"Neural-?" Seven said, still feeling a bit light headed.

"The devices the Hirogen had me put in some members of the crew, to alter their memories before putting them in one of the holodecks. It makes you believe you're a character within the program."

"Why am I in sickbay?" Seven said, though the sore spot on the back of her skull gave her some idea.

"You were wounded in the World War II simulation. The Hirogen have me patching up the crew when they get hurt and send them right back, or to another simulation. Half the crew are locked up in their quarters, the rest are fighting for their lives in these simulations." The Doctor grabbed a device off the tray next to him and began working on Seven's ocular implant. It was a familiar enough process that she didn't even flinch, though she did wonder why he was doing it at that moment.

"This has been going on for nineteen days," he continued. "But, I have found a way to disable your interface. I'll be sending you back into the World War II simulation, but this time you'll have an advantage."

"How so?"

"I modified one of your Borg implants. Within seconds of being brought back to the holodeck it will jam the interface's signal. Your objective is to find a control panel inside the holodeck and engage the bridge access relays. Harry and I will be able to deactivate all the interfaces, and we can get the crew back, which will give us a chance to retake the ship."

Seven was about to ask how that would work, but she heard the sound of heavy footsteps. Without being prompted, she pretended to still be unconscious.

"This is the last one," the Hirogen said. "Install it in her, then help me replicate more." Without waiting for a reply, she heard the Hirogen walk away.

"I have to sedate you now," the Doctor whispered to her a few seconds later. After that, she felt the familiar press of a hypospray against her neck. before she lost consciousness, she realized something very important that she'd forgotten to ask the Doctor, but the sedative kept her from saying it aloud; _Samantha and Naomi, are they alive?_

* * *

When Seven became aware again, she was wearing different clothing again, and was standing on a stage, an audience in front of her and piano music slowing to a halt behind her. She was disoriented for a second, but then remembered what the Doctor had told her. She made a show of touching her temples and wincing.

"My, my apologies, I, don't seem to, I need to sit down."

She went over to the bar, grateful she recognized it as such. She saw Tuvok behind it, cleaning glasses.

"I require a glass of water," she said.

"Make it a quick one," she heard Captain Janeway's voice beside her say. She turned to face her.

"I am ill," Seven said, hoping she sounded convincing.

"I promised the commandant you'd be singing 'til midnight. I'm planning to get a lot of information out of him tonight."

"I understand that is inconvenient timing," Seven said, managing to stop herself from reflexively calling Janeway 'Captain.' "But I-"

"I don't care if you're dying, get back out there."

"I would like to," Seven said. "But whatever is wrong with me, I am, I have forgotten the words. I do not even know what song I was singing just now. I am hoping it is temporary."

"Bullshit," Janeway said in a harsh whisper. "You've been a problem these past few days de Neuf, and I'm about ready to execute you myself. You keep this up we're going to be exposed, and the Nazis will gun us all down. Is that what you want?"

"Not at all, but I am no condition to be of any assistance to you right now." Seven grabbed at her own stomach, and covered her mouth, attempting to fake illness the way that Naomi had showed her once. "Excuse me," she said, heading towards what she believed was the establishment's bathroom, but Janeway grabbed her arm.

"Be here tonight, or else," she said. Seven nodded.

"If I'm not dead on the floor," Seven said.

* * *

When he heard the door to sickbay open again, he feared the worst. One crewmember had already died during these last nineteen days, and he didn't want to lose another. He was surprised to see Samantha Wildman walking in, the Hirogen medic that he'd had to put up with since the simulations began right behind her.

"According to the ship's records this one has training in biology. She will assist you, since you keep complaining about being overwhelmed," he said, giving Samantha a light shove.

"I tried explaining to him Doctor," Samantha said, "but he doesn't seem to get that my training involves working with animals, not with sentients."

"It will do," the Hirogen medic said.

"I suppose she'll have to. How well did you do on your first aid exams at the academy, Ensign?" the Doctor said.

Samantha sighed. "I didn't fail," she said. "Beyond that, I'd rather not think about it." She looked behind her at the Hirogen medic, who was now in the Doctor's office, looking at information on the console wall behind the desk.

"Doc, is Annik- is Seven okay?" she said, lowering her voice.

"She's alive," he said, not wanting to say anymore in case the Hirogen came back. "As for now, I think I should give a refresher on the basics. Just leave any major injuries to me and my 'friend' over there."

He walked over to her, handing her a PADD with information about how to treat minor cuts, sprains, dislocations and the like.

"How's Naomi holding up?" he asked.

"She puts on a brave face," Samantha said. "But I can tell she's terrified. I'm just glad the Hirogen have been leaving her alone."

"Children do not make good prey," the Hirogen medic said, re-entering the room.

"Well," Samantha said. "There's that at least."

* * *

Seven stood with her hands behind her back, as 'Katrine,' Janeway's character in the simulation, pointed to the map on the table, speaking to her, as well as the characters being played in this simulation by Tuvok and B'Elanna.

"You'll maintain position here," Janeway said. "twenty meters from the front doors. Arm yourself with a submachine gun and watch for any sign of trouble."

"We've observed a twenty-second break in the guard rotation at 4:15 a.m," Tuvok said, looking at Seven. "That should give you and Katrine time to enter the building through a storm window on the eastern wall."

"When I was there yesterday," B'Elanna said, "I saw guards posted at all three stairways, so you'll have to get to the second floor through the elevator shaft. The command post's in the main gallery at the end of the hall."

"Once inside," Janeway said, "we plant the charges and load the transmitter. We leave in one hour."

"I'll make sure that all evidence of the underground here gets destroyed if anything goes wrong," B'Elanna said. "But, God willing I won't have to."

"From your lips to his ears," Janeway said.

Seven nodded in agreement with the others, then headed over to the table where the explosives for the mission were set up. She took one of the grenades out of the case and looked it over, lamenting that knowledge about such archaic weapons had not been included in the memories the Borg had given her.

 _At least I know enough not to accidentally blow myself up_ , she thought.

"Are you having second thoughts about our mission tonight?" Janeway said.

"No. Why do you ask?"

"You seem distracted. Just now you forgot to connect the detonator to the explosives."

"I did? That doesn't seem right," Seven said. She had managed to use her enhanced hearing to eavesdrop on the others. As such she learned that her character in the simulation was an explosives expert.

"First you forget song lyrics, now this? I'm tempted to just leave you behind," Janeway said.

"Understandable," Seven said. "But I need to see this through."

"Good," Janeway said, loading a clip into a pistol. "Let's just hope we don't get any more screw ups from you tonight."

Seven nodded, then turned to follow Janeway as she and Tuvok made their way to the Nazi HQ. Once inside, the two quickly made their way in, quietly sneaking up behind the Nazi soldier who was working at the radio on the second floor. Janeway struck him over the head with a blunt weapon.

"Set the charges here, and there," Janeway said, pointing to two spots in the room. She looked at a piece of paper on the table next to the radio. "This looks like it's from one of their recon teams."

Janeway took the headset off the Nazi slumped in his chair and put it on her own head while Seven looked for a control so she could finish her mission for the Doctor. She found it on a bookshelf, and began quietly removing books while Janeway talked to herself about what she was hearing from the transmitter. Soon she had it exposed, and she began pushing buttons and moving isolinear chips.

"They're moving armored units into the valley," Seven heard Janeway say. "They must know the Americans are coming! We need to… What is that?"

 _Not good_ , Seven thought. "I believe it is a transmitter. I am attempting to disable it," she said. As she did so she imagined she could hear Samantha's voice whisper in her ear about what a terrible liar she was.

"You haven't set the charges," Janeway said. "You're trying to send a message to the Nazis."

"No," Seven said. She heard a sound that it took her a few seconds to put together. Janeway had taken her gun out from it's holster.

"Step away or I'll kill you," she said. Seven turned to face her. "I told you, no more mistakes. You just made your last-" Janeway suddenly gasped in pain and grabbed at her neck, right where her neural interface would be.

"I can assume you're back to normal Captain?" Seven said.

"Seven, what the hell is going on? Why are we dressed like this, and why are we in a room full of Nazi symbols?"

"I'll explain as quickly as I can," Seven said, telling Janeway everything the Doctor had told her about the Hirogen and the takeover of _Voyager_.

"If the Doctor has my link disabled hopefully he's gotten to everyone else as well," Janeway said. "Let's see if we can get this simulation shut down." Janeway walked over to the control panel and stood next to Seven, but before they could get to work, they heard gunfire outside the window; energy weapons and gunpowder weapons.

"Hirogen hunters," Seven said after going to the window and peeking outside.

"Internal scanners show thirteen of them on this holodeck," Janeway said. Soon, more gunfire could be heard, followed by a loud noise.

"Air raid sirens," Janeway said.

"It would appear that the Americans have arrived," Seven said.

"We need to clear out of here before they blow up the building," Janeway said, heading for the exit. Seven followed close behind her. As they made their way out the front door she heard a loud whistling noise.

"Incoming!" Janeway shouted, running faster and diving for cover. Seven followed right behind her as an explosive shell struck the building, blowing it apart.

Catching her breath, Seven looked over at Janeway.

"Are you uninjured Captain?" she said.

"I'm fine," Janeway said. "Oh, and Seven?"

"Yes?"

"If we survive this, maybe don't mention to Samantha that I almost shot you."

Seven was about to reply that the thought hadn't even occurred to her, when she noticed that the combat noise had stopped. She looked up, looked back towards the now-former Nazi headquarters, and saw that a large chunk of the holodeck had been blown up as well. From her vantage point she could see into three of _Voyager's_ decks.

"That's gonna take more than a patch job to fix," she heard Janeway say.

"An understatement to put it mildly," Seven said, noticing off to her side a number of men dressed in American military uniforms, some crew members some not, making their way towards the hole in the holodeck wall.

* * *

Samantha was certain she was about to get shot. The Hirogen medic had spotted the Doctor as he was disabling Janeway's neural interface after the connection had been made and had stopped him before he could free anyone else. He had the hologram at gunpoint, which would be an amusing sight under better circumstances since the Hirogen had already hidden away his mobile emitter. And Karr, the Hirogen leader, was there too, demanding to know who else the Doctor had activated. They didn't seem to notice her until she tried to slip away, but now they had her standing next to the Doctor, a rifle on her as well.

The sound of an explosion echoed through the hull. Karr ran out, hailing the bridge as he did so. The Hirogen medic kept his rifle trained on Samantha.

"We may not be able to reactivate the two neural interfaces you shut down," he said. "but at least I can prevent you from deactivating any more. Your Captain, and this Seven of Nine, are not strong enough to defeat us by themselves."

"I find it best not to underestimate the Captain," the Doctor said, sounding smug.

Samantha was about to add her own comment about her Borg girlfriend, but the sickbay door opened, and more wounded people, Starfleet and Hirogen, were coming in. The Hirogen medic groaned.

"Let's get to work," he said, lowering his rifle. "I've already disabled the link to the holodeck, there's nothing more you can do to harm us."

* * *

Seven followed Janeway into the Jeffries Tubes, the two of them trying to get back into the holodeck to try and recruit help to clear the way to sickbay. Only one Hirogen lifesign was there, as they'd discovered from the astrometrics lab, but the path was heavily guarded. There was a human lifesign in there as well; Samantha Wildman's according to the internal sensors.

Seven tried to stay focused on the mission, but she couldn't help but fear the worst; that Samantha had been put through one of the Hirogen simulations and was injured. The scanners showed her lifesigns as stable, but even if the injury was a minor one, the thought of it was enough to have Seven feeling anger. She did not like feeling anger. She did not like the thought of her lover being harmed. The Hirogen were responsible for both feelings, even if Samantha turned out to be unharmed.

 _I will make them suffer in ways they can't even imagine_ , she thought.

"Seven, you still with me?" Janeway said. Seven hadn't realized she'd slowed down her crawl through the tube.

"My apologies Captain, I was distracted."

"I'm sure she's fine, Seven." Janeway said.

"Captain, have you secretly been telepathic this whole time, or have I become that predictable?"

"I thought the Borg liked routine," Janeway said.

"But I am not fully Borg. I would've thought the fact of my romantic entanglement with Ensign Wildman made that obvious."

"Well, you got me there Seven," Janeway said. "No, it's not that you're predictable. It's that if it were someone I loved being held hostage by Hirogen, I'd want to tear the bastards apart with my bare hands."

"A crude but accurate description of my sentiments," Seven said.

"Here we are," Janeway said, opening the panel, and climbing out into Le Coeur de Lion. Seven stopped briefly when she heard the now familiar sound of guns cocking.

"Hold your fire," Janeway said as she crawled out, Seven following close behind her.

* * *

Harry Kim walked down the corridor, carrying a kit. The sound of gunfire off in the distance was odd to him, but he strangely didn't feel too bothered by it. He spotted the Nazi soldier before the soldier had a chance to turn around. Harry gripped his kit tighter, and ran at him, slamming it hard into the soldier's head. He brought it down again, picturing a Hirogen hunter in his mind as he did so.

"Whoa, ease up there!" he heard a voice behind him say.

Harry turned around, ready to hurl the kit at whoever it was, but saw the face of his best friend.

"Tom?"

"Wrong guy," Paris said, wearing an American soldier's uniform, and carrying a handgun. Another soldier stood just behind him. Harry couldn't quite tell through the grime on his face if he was another crewmember with their neural interface still on, or a holographic character, but both men had weapons trained on him. Harry sighed and dropped the kit.

"Let me guess, you think I'm Japanese right?"

"Why shouldn't I?" Tom said. "Hell, only reason I didn't shoot you on sight is 'cause I saw you killing that kraut there."

"That? Yeah, well, I've had a rough month and he happened to be in my way," Harry said. And it wasn't far from the truth. Ever since the Hirogen had taken _Voyager_ he'd had several flashbacks to the Year of Hell, and his anger had been building up, and building. But with the chaos of World War II spilling on to the ship he finally had a chance to get away from the Hirogen and do what he needed to do to retake the ship.

"He cheat you at poker or something?" Tom said.

Harry thought about it for a moment. He'd learned a little about Earth's second world war in history class as a kid, but he'd learned more since the Hirogen had created the simulation on the holodeck.

"He kept calling me Japanese," Harry said, scowling. "I'm Korean."

"Korean huh? Okay, I buy that. So where are you going?"

"I'm on a mission for Katrine," Harry said, glad he'd paid attention to what was going on in the simulations before the bridge lost all connection with the holodeck.

"You're working with the French resistance?" Tom said.

"Yep."

"Mind if I ask why?"

"Long story. Suffice it to say there's a girl involved."

Tom nodded, motioning the other soldier to go on ahead of him. "Ain't that always the way? Well, whatever it is, good luck. Try not to get killed."

"Thanks. Oh, and by the way, there are some Nazis running around with some heavy armor on, way tougher than the regular kind. They're some kind of special ops team. If you run into any of them, aim for the head."

"Aim for the head. Got it. Thanks Korean," Tom said, saluting casually as he started off down the corridor. Harry waited for him to be out of sight before continuing on his own way, stopping to give the dead Nazi on the ground one last kick as he passed.

* * *

Seven of Nine had been ordered to modify the weapons that the resistance fighters had using Borg technology, so she was doing so. Having snuck her way to cargo bay 2 to grab some gear from her alcove, she was back in the simulation, and had started to work on modifying the grenades when Tuvok, still in character, came up to her.

"Where have you been?" he said, clearly still suspicious that she was a German spy.

"Obtaining supplies. I stole some German technology from the exposed bunker, and I am using it to upgrade our weaponry." The shockwave of an explosion shook the bar.

"Speaking of the Germans," she added, "shouldn't you be at the window, providing covering fire?"

Tuvok glowered at her. "Very well," he said.

Seven sighed as she went back to work.

 _The Captain had better get the other interfaces turned off soon_ , she thought. It's one thing to play a character on the holodeck with Sam, but this…

* * *

Samantha had once again been sure she was done for when the Doctor had disappeared, but the Hirogen medic, to his credit, did not attempt to blame her for it as he'd been looking at her when it happened. Instead he simply ordered her to use dermal regenerators on some wounded Hirogen that had been brought it. She did so reluctantly, but her desire to see Naomi and Annika alive again kept her going.

She heard the jeffries tube door open while the medic was informing the bridge that nine Hirogen hunters had been confirmed dead and that the Doctor was missing. She glanced up to see if he showed any sign of hearing it himself. Unfortunately, it seemed he did.

"Hold on a moment," she heard him say.

The Captain crawled out, holding a type of gun Samantha didn't quite recognize. Soon Commander Chakotay came out behind her, dressed in some type of military garb. The Hirogen medic spotted them, but they already had their weapons trained on him.

"You," the Hirogen said.

"There are ten pounds of explosives right under the floor here," Janeway said. "If you want to live, you've got less than three minutes to clear out. Samantha, is there anyone else here?"

"No one alive ma'am," Samantha said.

"Good. Captain?" Janeway said to Chakotay, confirming Samantha's suspicion that Chakotay was still under the influence of the neural interfaces. "Get this man out of here. Sam, go with them."

"Yes ma'am," Samantha said. She started to follow Chakotay as he ushered the Hirogen medic out at gunpoint, but stopped.

"Captain," she said, looking at Janeway. "Is-"

"Seven's alive," Janeway said. "She's with the resistance fighters. Now go."

Samantha nodded, and headed out. By the time she caught up with Chakotay, she spotted two Hirogen hunters coming around the corner. Chakotay tried to shoot at them, but the Hirogen medic was able to knock him aside. She ran in the opposite direction, feeling a pang of guilt at leaving Chakotay behind, until she heard more gunpowder firearm noises.

"Keep going!" she heard Chakotay yell. She turned briefly to see him running behind her, turning around to fire his weapon behind him. Several seconds later there was yet another explosion.

* * *

Seven glanced up when she heard Tom and B'Elanna wincing. Tuvok was also gripping at his neck. Seven actually smiled. She walked over to them, noticing that all three looked confused.

"We're on the holodeck, and we're under attack. We must-"

She was interrupted by the sound of the door being kicked in. Soon one of the holographic Nazis entered, followed by a Hirogen in a Nazi uniform, and additional Hirogen hunters, all of them with guns drawn.

"Drop your weapons," the holographic Nazi said.

Seven did so reluctantly, as did Tom and B'Elanna, Tuvok's weapon already dropped when his neural interface had shut off.

One of the Hirogen, using a Starfleet communicator, contacted the bridge, while one of the Hirogen lined the four crewmembers against a railing.

"Bridge, this is Holodeck 1. We have seized the building, and found another entryway into the holodeck."

"Good work Turanj," the Hirogen's leader said over the comm. "Seal that entrance immediately. How many captives have you taken?"

"Four," Turanj said. "Their neural interfaces have been disabled. I will make the kill."

"No! They are not prey, they are hostages. I will need them."

Turanj scowled.

 _Dissension in the Hirogen ranks_ , Seven thought. _Perhaps this could be used to our advantage._

"Very well," Turanj said. "You," he added, pointing to one of the other Hirogen. "Help me seal this hatch."

"So," Tom Paris said, "What do you think? Boy or a girl?" Seven turned and saw that Tom was looking at B'Elanna's 'pregnant' body, a creation of the simulation.

"It is a holographic projection," she said.

"A very realistic one," B'Elanna said. "I can actually feel the damn thing kicking."

"I don't recognize this program," Tuvok said.

"I do," Tom said.

"Given your interest in 20th century Earth history that is hardly surprising," Seven said.

The non-Hirogen Nazi made a loud throat clearing noise to get the attention of the _Voyager_ crewmembers. Straightening his uniform he walked towards them, his eyes focused on B'Elanna.

"What're you staring at?" B'Elanna said, looking like she wanted to tear the man's throat out. Given what Seven had learned about the Nazis in both her observations in the simulation and the few things Janeway had been able to tell her while they were calling through the jeffries tubes, she had to admit that she wouldn't have minded seeing that.

"Stand up," he said. B'Elanna got to her feet with difficulty.

"You deceived me," he said.

"Figured that out on your own did you?" B'Elanna said.

"I should've known all along. The thought of you carrying my child disgusts me."

"Yeah well, join the club," B'Elanna said. The Nazi struck her across the face so hard that Seven found herself wincing in sympathy. Tom immediately leapt up, both to keep B'Elanna from falling over but also to hold her back from striking back at the Nazi, an act that would assuredly get them all killed.

"Pig," Tom yelled at him.

"I have had the opportunity to interact with pigs on the holodeck," Seven said, referring to one of Naomi's favorite programs. "I would not denigrate the animals by comparing them to the Nazis."

Tom smirked. "Yeah, good point."

The Nazi who had struck B'Elanna pulled out his gun on Tom, obviously struggling to contain his own rage. Seven tensed to try and tackle him.

"Put the weapon away," Turanj said. "Now."

The Nazi looked back at the Hirogen, then back at Tom and B'Elanna, before shoving the weapon back into it's holster.

* * *

Samantha went back toward sickbay, carefully trying not to be noticed, Chakotay a few steps ahead of her checking to see if the path was clear. The Commander's neural interface had gone off-line, and Samantha had filled him in on what she knew.

"Any sign that the Captain made it out of sickbay before it blew?" she said.

"I couldn't tell," Chakotay said. "I was too busy trying to get clear."

They reached sickbay, or rather what was left of it. Despite the size of the explosion, and the fact that said explosion took out the sickbay door, there was far less damage than either of them had feared, although many consoles would definitely need to be replaced.

"No signs of bodies," Chakotay said. "The Captain's or that Hirogen medic, whatever his name is."

"Actually, I don't think he ever said it. I don't even know if he has one, I'm not up on Hirogen customs," Samantha said.

Chakotay searched over sickbay one more time.

"Tell me Sam, how did you do on your last hand phaser test?"

"Bare minimum," she said. "And that was with Mr. Tuvok giving me lessons."

Chakotay handed her a dropped Hirogen rifle.

"I've got it set on stun, so don't worry about hitting a bulkhead. Come on, this way."

"I'd really rather go check on Naomi," Samantha said.

"She'll be safer once we've retaken the ship. Now come on," Chakotay said. "We've still got people in occupied France to rescue. Just stay behind me, and don't take any shots you aren't 100% sure of."

"All right, fine. At least the Hirogen are big targets. If we were having to deal with the macrovirus again I wouldn't stand a chance of hitting anything." She looked at the weapon in her hands. "The Hirogen have stun settings?"

* * *

Seven watched as Turanj poured himself a glass of wine from behind the bar. She believed that if she kept focusing on him long enough, she'd find the right opportunity to either strike at him, or at the very least chip away at his confidence in his superior on the bridge in order to create an internal conflict for the Hirogen.

"Synthetic," he uttered as if the word were a curse. "And undrinkable. I grow tired of this simulation." He looked over at the captives.

"I should be impressed at how well you have managed to survive so far," Turanj said. "You have been good prey. But I can't enjoy it properly because of all this nonsense."

"Mein Herr, a word?" the Nazi said.

The Hirogen sighed. "Nonsense such as these holograms. What do you want?"

"Sir, I want to know what it is we are waiting for. Why don't we just execute these prisoners?"

"Orders. From the commandant," Turanj said, almost spitting out the last word.

"I have a feeling this is gonna get really ugly," Tom Paris whispered.

"I second that opinion," Seven said.

"May I speak freely?" the Nazi said. Seven didn't hear a reply, and could only see the back of Turanj's head, but the Nazi continued speaking. "The commandant has been acting strangely these past few days, questioning German superiority. Perhaps we shouldn't follow his orders so blindly. Simply a suggestion."

"You will follow his orders, for as long as I tell you to."

"I don't know how much longer I can stand-"

"Are you bored?" Turanj said, interrupting. "Perhaps you would like some entertainment while we wait for the commandant's orders." Turanj walked over to Seven and pointed at her.

"You. Sing."

 _Is he serious?_ Seven thought. "I will not," she said. Turanj responded by pulling out a pistol.

"Sing, or die."

"Then I will die," Seven said, standing up, and staring the Hirogen directly in the eyes.

"Seven," Tuvok said. "You are a valuable member of this crew. Logically, -"

"Logic is irrelevant," Seven said.

"Seven, think about Sam and Naomi," Tom said. Seven blinked. She stayed silent for a long moment. Turanj raised the pistol so the barrel was pointed directly at her forehead. Seven had a flash of memory; or Samantha's body pressed against her own in the sonic shower in her quarters. Then another image, just as powerful but less erotic. The site of Naomi laughing and smiling as she played with holographic representations of a number of Earth animals.

"Very well," Seven said bitterly. "I will require backing music."

"I think that can be arra-"

"Bridge to Holodeck 1," the voice of the Hirogen commander, came over the comm. "I've come to an agreement with Captain Janeway. Call a cease-fire."

"What?!" Turanj said, his weapon hand shaking slightly.

"Captain?" Tuvok said.

"It's true, Tuvok," Janeway's voice replied. "Our first order of business is to call off the troops. I want you to find Chakotay, and get him to convince his soldiers to pull out of the city."

Turanj put his weapon away, much to Seven's surprise. She had expected him to disobey orders right then and there.

"Aye Captain," Tuvok said.

"Turanj, order our hunters to end the fighting," the Hirogen commander said.

 _Diplomacy works better than I ever gave it credit for_ , Seven thought. _Perhaps I should look into taking lessons on the subject_.

"This is madness!" the Nazi yelled, but Turanj cut him off with a raised hand.

"Our civilization depends on this agreement," the Hirogen commander said.

"Acknowledged. Release the prisoners," Turanj said. He didn't sound happy about it, but Seven didn't find that too surprising as she sometimes felt the same way about following some of Janeway's orders. Soon all four _Voyager_ crew members were heading out into the holographic daylight.

"That could've gone a lot worse," Tom said, putting his arm around B'Elanna once they were outside. Seven looked back at the door as it closed behind them.

"To use one of your colloquialisms Mr. Paris," she said. "I don't think we're out of the woods just yet. I think Turanj may still be a problem."

* * *

The shooting had already stopped by the time Chakotay and Samantha had reached the unfinished barricade, just in time to meet up with Tuvok, Tom, B'Elanna, and much to Samantha's joy and relief, Seven of Nine.

"Annie!" She ran forward, dropping the Hirogen rifle. Seven jogged forward herself, the two women throwing themselves so hard into an embrace they almost fell over.

"Sam, I am glad you are uninjured. Is Naomi-"

"Safe," Samantha said.

Samantha felt a tap on her shoulder, and she turned to see Tom Paris, also in military garb.

"I hate to break up the reunion here," he said. "but a lot of these soldiers are holograms of 20th century humans, and back then relationships like yours weren't exactly treated with respect."

Samantha looked around. Most of the soldiers were focused on their duties, but a few were giving her and Seven looks. Some of them looked disgusted, others looked aroused as though they expected the two of them to strip naked and have sex right there in the street. She sighed.

"All the more reason to end this sooner," she said.

"Agreed," Seven said.

Chakotay came up to them, Tuvok and B'Elanna alongside.

"All right, the order's been given," he said. "Now we just wait for the Captain."

"You know," Tom said. "I'm not going to lie, if this were a simulation I was running on my own time, with the safeties on and no risk to the whole ship, I'd actually be enjoying this."

"I find that odd," Seven said. "given that the death toll in this war, despite being limited to one planet, was larger than that of the Tholian War and the Cardassian border skirmishes combined."

"Well, when you put it that way-" Tom started to say, when the gunfire started.

"Shit!" Tom yelled as he went for cover.

"Language!" Seven yelled as she followed. Soon all the _Voyager_ crew and a number of holographic American soldiers were firing back at the Nazis and Hirogen who had fired on them.

"So much for the cease fire!" Samantha yelled, as she ducked behind an upturned automobile.

""I know this probably isn't the best time for this," B'Elanna said as she tried to work a 20th century era pistol, "but we're not just going to ignore the fact that Seven of Nine just went 'langauge' are we?"

"You're correct, this is not the best time!" Seven shouted over the sounds of combat, briefly coming up from cover to fire several rounds at the Nazis.

"You understand that if we survive this, making fun of you for that is almost an obligation," Tom said.

"Stop teasing my girlfriend and shoot the bad guys already!" Samantha yelled.

"She got it from you didn't she?" B'Elanna said.

* * *

Seven was running on adrenaline almost entirely by the time night fell in the simulation. In all that time, the shooting had hardly let up, and her crewmates and the American soldiers were surrounded. Not even Samantha managing to retrieve the Hirogen weapon she'd dropped before they'd been completely routed from their original position had been able to turn the tide of battle in their favor.

Seven couldn't even remember when she had last been in her alcove, but she had to imagine that for her to have lasted this long the Hirogen had probably put her in it in between simulations. She was trying to stay focused on the task of modifying their grenades.

"How's it coming along?" Chakotay asked her.

"I'm modifying this explosive device to emit a photonic burst. It'll be harmless to organic tissue."

"Clever. I thought you didn't know how to work with 20th century explosives."

"I am not an expert, and were this not a desperate situation I'd actually be advising against what I'm doing, but our options are limited. This should disrupt all holographic activity within twenty meters."

"We'll buy you some time, keep at it," Chakotay said before heading back to the barricade to continue firing.

After a few more moments, Seven was certain she got it. She shifted up to the barricade, trying to stay low in order to avoid being shot.

"Good luck Annie," Samantha said, firing over the barricade.

Seven nodded, stood to throw the grenade, then felt a biting pain in her shoulder, the impact of which made her fall back and drop the grenade.

"Annie!" she heard Samantha yell.

"Sam, stay down!" B'Elanna yelled. There was a noise, and a green light. Through a haze of pain, Seven saw that her grenade did in fact work, but on the wrong side. American soldiers, her crewmates rifles, and all the other grenades and explosives vanished. Tears welled up in Seven's eyes, but not from the pain.

 _So close,_ she thought.

"I'm sorry," she tried to say, but it was so weak she doubted anyone heard her. Within seconds the sound of gunfire had stopped, and she heard a thick accented voice say the word "Surrender." And then, as if to add insult to injury, it began to rain.

 _Who wrote this simulation?_ Seven thought as German soldiers hoisted her to her feet. The soldiers lined her, Samantha, Tom, Tuvok, and Chakotay against a wall, while their commanding officer held a tight grip on B'Elanna's arms.

"Prepare to fire," he said. "Their deaths will-"

The sounds of clanging metal and screaming came from the other end of the street. Seven tried to turn her head to look but it hurt too much.

"Klingons," Samantha said. "Okay. Not what I expected, but you certainly could do worse for back-up."

"I think that there was an ancient Klingon blood feud that was running on the other holodeck," Chakotay said. "Remind me to thank whoever brought them over here. Sam, stay with Seven. Everyone else let's finish this fight."

"Aye sir," Tom said with obvious excitement.

Seven slid down the wall to sit on the pavement, feeling dizzy from blood loss. Samantha had removed her jacket and was pressing it into Seven;s wound to stem the bleeding.

"C'mon Annie, stay awake," she said.

"Not difficult. The battle is rather noisy. Annoyingly so I would say," Seven said, wanting very badly to go to sleep.

"Hey, Annie, can I tell you something?"

"Of course."

"I really liked your hair the way they had it in the simulation."

"It wasn't my idea."

"I know, I know."

"Sam?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

There was a sudden noise, followed by a sudden lack of noise. Seven glanced up to see that all the Nazis, and all the Klingons except for one that looked oddly similar to Neelix were gone as well. She also realized finally that one of the American soldiers she'd assumed was holographic was actually Lieutenant Ayala. _How did I not notice before?_ she thought.

"It's over," Chakotay said. "Let's go."

* * *

When Seven recovered from her gunshot wound, she awoke in a still half destroyed sickbay, both Samantha and Naomi Wildman at her bedside.

"I do hope I didn't lost almost a month worth of memories this time," she said.

"No, only several hours," she heard the Doctor say. "It's a good thing I got to you when I did, you lost a lot of blood."

Seven tried to sit up, but found it difficult at first. It took a second try, but she was finally able to survey just how much damage had been done to sickbay while she was back in the simulation.

"It is astonishing that this much damage was caused by centuries old explosives technology," she said. She turned to Samantha. "Are the Hirogen gone?"

"Not just yet," Samantha said. "but we do have a cease-fire. A real one this time. It looks like they've accepted a deal. They'll leave us alone in exchange for holodeck technology. Not sure how I feel about that right now to be honest."

"I'm just glad they're going away," Naomi said. "They were scary, and smelly, and…"

"And they're gone," Captain Janeway said as she walked in. "They beamed off and warped away about five minutes ago. How are you doing Seven?"

"I am not entirely without pain just yet Captain, but I will recover."

"Good to hear."

"Captain," the Doctor said, "if you don't mind me asking..."

"Sickbay is a top priority for repairs Doctor, don't worry, We just need to get some more of our power relays up and running first. We're going to put down for repairs. We found a small planetoid with the right gravity. We won't be able to leave the ship since the air lacks enough oxygen, but we'll be safe."

"Doctor," Seven said. "If I'm cleared to leave sickbay, I need to spend some time in my alcove. I've not been in for a full recharge for several days at least."

Samantha sighed. "I was hoping we could spend the next few days together, considering how long the Hirogen had us separated."

"That time together wouldn't be very long if I ceased to function properly in the middle of it," Seven said. "The recharge time is inconvenient but necessary."

"I would say no normally given your injuries," the Doctor said. "but I also have fewer biobeds to work with so I'll go ahead and clear you, but with the caveat that I want Ensign Wildman to check in on you every hour until you've recharged and can return to sickbay for a follow up."

"I can do that," Samantha said. "Not much use for a xenobiologist when it comes to repairing EPS conduits."

Seven let both Samantha and Janeway help her out of the bed. She found that she could walk fine so long as she walked slowly, so she kept holding on to Samantha's arm as she let go of the Captain's.

"Thank you Captain," Seven said.

 **Chapter Seven**

Seven of Nine awoke from her regeneration cycle to find herself alone. It took a moment's reorientation to remember that Samantha had gone to bed early last night because she had a bridge shift this morning. Seven remembered that she had a scheduled maintenance inspection of the aft sensor array, and that Ensign Kim was supposed to assist her.

"Computer, locate Ensign Kim," she said.

"Ensign Kim is in the mess hall," the computer responded. Seven exited the cargo bay and headed towards the mess hall to meet with Harry.

When she arrived, she found Harry playing the Vulcan game of kal-toh with Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, a weekly occurrence. She looked at the game and saw that Harry was only one move away from winning, but from the way he was looking at it, he didn't see it. She wondered if Harry had found time to practice the game at any point during his year in an alternate timeline.

"Seven," Harry said. "You're early."

"Seventeen minutes to be precise," Seven said, wondering how Harry knew she was there without looking in her direction. "I allotted extra time for our task today to allow time for reading a text the Doctor recommended to me."

"Good, good," Harry said, still not taking his eyes off the game. "Care to take as a seat? I think this is the closest I've ever come to beating this thing."

"Very well," Seven said, wondering if Harry knew just how correct he was. She had to admit, she respected his ability to have gotten so far. From what she knew of the game, very few humans were capable of winning.

After a few more moments, Harry sighed. "Damn. I concede. Well played Commander," he said. Tuvok raised an eyebrow.

"Ensign Kim, are you certain you wish to forfeit at this moment?" Tuvok said.

"Yeah. I've been looking at this one piece for what feels like forever, I'm just not getting it," Harry said.

"'Forever, as you call it, has only been three and a half minutes," Tuvok said.

"May I?" Seven said, holding out her hand, palm up to Harry. Harry looked at her, then at the kal-toh piece in his hand. He shrugged, then handed it to her. "You were in fact very close Ensign. if you look right-"

The ship suddenly shuddered. It was subtle, several people in the mess hall didn't seem to notice it right away, and the game was unaffected.

"What was that?" Harry said.

Seven noticed out the viewports that the stars that had been streaking by before were suddenly still.

"We have dropped out of warp," she said.

* * *

Less than an hour later, at the request of Commander Chakotay, Seven was in engineering with Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres.

"Any idea what this is about?" Tom said.

"I believe the Commander will inform us when he arrives," Seven said, the doors to engineering opening and Commander Chakotay coming through as soon as she said it.

Chakotay dispensed with any form of greeting, and quickly got to the point."I've been informed," he said, "that we'll be undertaking a highly classified mission. Captain's order are that information will be given out on a need-to-know basis."

"Classified? By who?" Tom said.

""By whom," Seven reflexively corrected. She winced. "My apologies, that was unnecessary."

"You know Seven, just because you're dating a parent-" B'Elanna started to say, but Chakotay cut her off.

"Focus people. B'Elanna, the captain wants you to install multiphasic shielding around the warp core by 1100 hours."

B'Elanna scoffed. "Less than five hours? Can't be done," she said.

"The Captain wants it done," Chakotay said. "at any cost. Go around any safety measures if you have to. Those are her orders."

"Are we attempting to protect the core from some form of subspace radiation?" Seven said.

"I know about as much as you do," Chakotay said, as he handed a PADD to Tom.

"Tom, start modifying a shuttlecraft to withstand extreme thermal stress; 12,000 kelvins at least."

"Aye sir," Tom said.

"Does this have anything to do with that secret message the Captain got?" B'Elanna said. "Rumor has it the captain's been locked in her ready room since we dropped out of warp."

"Close," Tom said. "She did come on to the bridge after we dropped out of warp and we got that omega symbol on all our screens."

"Omega?" Seven said. _That's what dropped out of warp,_ she thought. _There's an omega particle near-by. That means the captain is implementing the Omega Directive._

"It's an old Earth symbol," Chakotay said. "From the-"

"Greek alphabet yes," Seven said. "Commander, I need to speak-"

"With the captain?" Chakotay said. "Funny, she wanted me to send you her way. Whatever's going on, I can't ask. And you two," Chakotay looked back and forth between Tom and B'Elanna, "no gossip. Focus on the tasks at hand. I'm sympathetic, I'm curious about all this myself, but Captain Janeway was very adamant about all this."

* * *

On her way to see the Captain, Seven bumped into Samantha Wildman, almost literally. Her mind was so consumed with shameless excitement, an unusual emotion for her. The prospect of actually seeing an Omega particle with her own eyes...

"Honey, where's the fire?" Samantha said.

"What?" Seven said.

"An expression. You looked like you were in a hurry."

"I am actually. The Captain wishes to speak with me."

"Is this about the shockwave that dropped us out of warp earlier today?" Samantha said. "I was on the bridge when it happened. Still not sure what it was, or why the computer decided to get all cloak and dagger on us."

"It's part of the Omega Directive," Seven said, flinching after she said so. In her excitement she had completely forgotten that Samantha, not being a Captain, would likely have never heard of it. "I wasn't supposed to tell you that, please disregard."

"Passing classified information huh?" Samantha said with a smirk. "Don't worry. You know how well I can keep a secret. Have fun with your classified mission," she added before giving Seven a kiss on the cheek.

Seven sighed. _Classified,_ she thought. _For now at least_. Seven finally reached the Captain's ready room.

"Come in," Janeway's voice said.

As soon as the doors closed behind Seven, Janeway immediately got to the reason she asked for her. "How much do you know about Omega?" she asked.

"As much as you do," Seven said, grateful for the Captain's directness. "Most likely that is."

"I thought as much," Janeway said. "The Borg have assimilated Starfleet captains, it's not surprising that you would have at least some of their knowledge."

"An accurate assessment," Seven said. "Do you intend to carry out the directive?"

"I do."

Seven felt her heart actually skip a beat in a way it hadn't since Samantha had said "I love you" on the holodeck months prior.

"Then you have found an omega particle," Seven said, not caring in that moment if the captain could see her excitement.

"Ship's sensors have, yes," Janeway said. "The directive forbids me from speaking about Omega or what it concerns to any member of the crew. But, since you already know about it, you have two options. Help me, or I will confine you to the cargo bay until the particle has been destroyed."

"The latter then Captain," Seven said without hesitation. "I refuse to aid in the destruction of Omega. It should be harnessed, not destroyed."

"Harnessing Omega is impossible," Janeway said.

"The Collective believes otherwise. While I was a drone, the Borg did manage to stabilize a single Omega particle for one-trillionth of a nanosecond. The experiment allowed them to refine their theories about how to permanently stabilize it."

"I'm not impressed. One-trillionth of a nanosecond? A blink of an eye is a human's lifetime compared to that. And what, may I ask, did this little experiment cost the Borg when they tried it?"

Seven looked to the side, not wanting to look Janeway in the eye, afraid the Captain would see the embarrassment in her own.

"Twenty-nine vessels, and 600,000 drones," she said. Janeway crossed her arms. Seven continued. "And we, they, lacked enough boronite ore to create another."

"Sorry," Janeway said, though her tone suggested she wasn't. "If someone out there is experimenting with Omega my orders are to stop them. Whoever is experimenting with it is putting this whole quadrant at risk."

"Captain, you must understand. As a drone, I only ever had one primary desire; perfection. Like all Borg. But, there was another. It's as close to selfishness as I or any drone could've gotten. I want to see an Omega particle. Firsthand." Seven closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I will assist you," she said.

"You will?" Janeway said, sounding surprised. "But just a few seconds ago you were-"

"I still contend that Omega can be harnessed. But even if I cannot convince you to try, I can at least fulfill that desire to observe it through more than just a mere simulation. I will not deny myself that experience. Omega is infinitely complex, yet harmonious. To the Borg it represents perfection. I wish to understand that perfection."

Janeway nodded, her facial expression showing that she at least believed she understood where Seven was coming from. "Report back to your cargo bay," she said. "assemble everything you have on Omega, then come back in one hour. You are not to discuss this matter with anyone. Especially Sam. That is an order."

"Yes Captain," Seven said.

* * *

The next morning, Janeway entered the cargo bay. Seven had been running analysis on the data obtained from the shockwave that had hit them yesterday, even putting off lunch with Samantha to do so. Seven regretted the necessity of it, but due in part to the failure of the command staff to fully stop the ship's rumor mill, Samantha understood that it had something to do with the classified mission Seven was brought it on by the Captain. If anything, far from being upset Samantha seemed to find the matter rather exciting, despite the fact that Seven was literally not allowed to tell her anything about it.

"Captain," Seven said before Janeway could ask her any questions. "Upon further examination, it would appear that we are dealing with more than one Omega particle."

"What?" Janeway said in a shocked tone of voice.

"Possibly hundreds, within a radius of ten light years from our current position."

"That's worse than I thought," Janeway said.

"Captain," Seven said, knowing that the Captain was not going to like what she was about to say next. "I do not believe that the two of us are capable of completing this task alone. We will require the resources of the entire crew."

"Transfer your data to the astrometrics lab," Janeway said after a moment's pause, giving no indication that she had heard what Seven had said to her. "I'll work on it there."

"Captain," Seven said. "Given the nature of the situation, there's a distinct possibility that if we fail in our mission, we will be destroyed in the process. We must tell the crew something, even if it is a falsehood, in order to keep them from endangering themselves on a rescue mission."

"I'm working on that already. I'll talk to Commander Chakotay, he'll be given explicit instructions."

"And what should I tell Sam?" Seven said, the sentence coming out of her mouth with more invective behind it than she'd intended, betraying her bitterness at the situation.  
Janeway sighed.

"Samantha is a Starfleet officer. She knew when she signed up there were risks. She knows every time a crew member leaves this ship there's a chance they won't be coming back. You can't dwell on that Seven, when we're out there I'll need your undivided attention on the task at hand."

"I will perform my duties to the fullest of my abilities Captain," Seven said. "I simply believe that as her romantic partner, she has the right to know about the circumstances of my death should that be the case."

"I don't have time for this argument Seven," Janeway said. "You are not allowed to divulge any details about the Omega Directive, or the omega particle. Beyond that, tell her whatever you think will make you feel better."

"It's not my well-being I am concerned with Captain, it's my girlfriend and her child I'm worried about."

Janeway closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose with a thumb and finger, a gesture that Seven noticed was common among humans when they were frustrated.

"I've already had to amend the Omega Directive once for this mission, why not pile on. I'll write something for the crew, to be declassified only upon my death. That way, if we don't get home, all of them will know why, not just Samantha and Naomi. Is that good enough?"

"Yes. And thank you," Seven said, meaning it.

* * *

"Annie," Samantha Wildman said as she entered cargo bay 2. "Brought you some lunch."

"Thank you, but I'm afraid I've already eaten," Seven of Nine said.

"Oh. Getting ready for the big mission huh? Harry's not quite the gossip he used to be before his whole 'year of hell' thing, but even he couldn't keep it secret that he and Tuvok are modifying a torpedo. From what he says, it sounds like you're getting ready to blow up a small planet."

"This is inaccurate," Seven said. "Though perhaps even saying that much was pushing the boundaries of what is and isn't classified."

Samantha chuckled at that. She imagined that it was difficult for Seven not to tell her what was going on. Seven often had difficulty keeping things from her, even things that Sam felt she didn't really need to know having not yet mastered the concept of oversharing that she'd promised to teach Seven when they began sleeping together. Still, despite Seven's tendency to say more than was necessary, Samantha loved her all the same.

"Well, who knows, maybe you can share with us after the fact. If you make it back I mean."

"Sam-"

"Annika, I'm not a child." Samantha hoped that Seven could tell she was sincere in what she was saying. "I'm a Starfleet officer. I know every time you leave this ship there's a-"

"A chance I won't be coming back," Seven said, stopping whatever she was doing on her Borg console. "By coincidence I had a similar conversation with the Captain not more than a half hour ago."

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little scared Annie. But whatever it is you and the Captain are going to be facing out there, I know what you both are capable of. If anyone can make it back, it's you and her. And I'll be here, waiting."

Seven opened her mouth to reply, but her comm badge chirped.

"Chakotay to Seven of Nine, report to the briefing room."

"On my way Commander," Seven said. She walked over to Samantha and embraced her, squeezing tighter than she ever had before but still holding back as she often did out of fear of her own Borg enhanced strength. "As strange as it may sound, I am glad I was assimilated by the Borg as a child. Had I not been, I'd never have met you."  
Samantha closed her eyes, and kissed Seven on the forehead.

"It doesn't sound strange at all," she said. "Now go out there and knock 'em dead tiger."

"Tiger?"

"Trying out some new nicknames. You like?"

"It's inoffensive, but I'm not sure it works."

* * *

Harry Kim found himself, for the first time since the Year of Hell, actually genuinely excited about a mission. He'd been excited when _Voyager_ had begun receiving letters from the Alpha Quadrant, before they were forced to destroy a relay in order to save Seven of Nine and Tuvok from the Hirogen, but in terms of other things the crew had encountered since then, his once omnipresent enthusiasm for strange new worlds that he'd had with him since he entered Starfleet Academy had been gone. He wondered if this was a sign that finally the medication and therapy regime the Doctor had him on for his post-traumatic stress was finally paying off.

As soon as Seven of Nine entered the briefing room, looking somewhat uncharacteristically exhausted, the Captain began speaking to all the crewmembers gathered there; himself, Seven, Tuvok, the Doctor, Tom, and Chakotay. B'Elanna was still in engineering.

"If we were in the Alpha Quadrant right now," she said. "we wouldn't be having this conversation. I'd be in contact with Starfleet Command and they'd be sending in a specialized team to deal with this. But I don't have that option. For the time being, what training I've received and what knowledge Seven of Nine has retained from the Borg will have to suffice."

"Captain," Seven of Nine said. "May I ask what brought about this, change of heart?"

Janeway glanced over at Chakotay. "Let's just say I got a much needed kick in the pants and leave it at that," she said. "That's a figure of speech by the way."

Seven's eyebrow raised. "I'm a Borg, not a toddler. I would not have assumed that the Commander had literally kicked you."

Harry chuckled at that.

Janeway sighed. "Moving on," she said, adding emphasis to the latter word. She tapped a few buttons on the console in front of her and pointed at the screen. "You've all seen this symbol I imagine in one context or another. Omega. Starfleet chose it as a symbol for something that threatens not only the Federation but the entire galaxy. The Omega Particle is the most powerful substance known to exist anywhere in the universe. A single Omega particle has the same amount of power as a warp core."

"Wow," Harry said, unable to control his reaction. Janeway nodded and continued, not bothering to chastise Harry for his interruption.

"Omega was first synthesized by a Federation scientist named Bendes Ketteract in the late 23rd century," she continued. "Upon creation, it exploded, destroying the entire facility. The explosion tore up subspace in the Lantaru sector over a radius of several light years. In the affected area, it's impossible to attain warp speed, since a warp drive can't work without subspace from which to create a warp field."

"I've heard of that sector," Tom Paris said. "We were told in the academy that is was a natural phenomenon that made warp travel impossible there."

"Obviously that's not true," Janeway said. "Only Starfleet captains and flag officers have ever been given full briefings on this threat." She stood up. "What you are about to hear will not go beyond these bulkheads, is that clear?"

Harry nodded, and he saw everyone else do at roughly the same time. _Is B'Elanna going to be briefed later, or are we leaving her out of the loop?_ he thought.

"Good," Janeway said before going over to the viewscreen. After a few button pushes, the Omega symbol was placed with an animation of a single particle, enlarged so the naked eye could see it.

"This is Omega," she said. She tapped a few more buttons, and the image of a badly damaged Starfleet space station appeared on screen. "This was the secret facility in the Lantaru sector. This image was taken from the sensors of the original _U.S.S. Enterprise_ herself, under James T. Kirk's command. The _Enterprise_ was nearly lost. 126 of the Federation's top scientists were even less lucky. Presumably they were hoping to provide the Federation with an inexhaustible source of energy"

"Equally likely is that it was being developed for use as a weapon. According to the admittedly incomplete data the Borg obtained from assimilated Starfleet captains," Seven said. "the Lantaru base was under the direction of a clandestine group within the Federation called Section 31."

"Wait, Section 31 is real?" Chakotay said, echoing Harry's own thoughts when he heard Seven mention the name. "I've heard stories about them, but even I never really bought it. Not even when I was on the outs with Starfleet when I joined the Maquis."

"I can in fact confirm Section 31's existence Commander," Tuvok said. "Many years ago, they attempted to recruit me into their organization. I declined, obviously."

"My Dad hated Section 31," Tom said. "He always used to say 'if you have to deny an action, it was a crappy action.' One of the few things we ever really agreed on."

"None of this is relevant to the matter at hand," Janeway said forcefully. "Starfleet Command at the time recognized the implications of the accident right away. An explosion of a large enough number of these molecules, even just a handful, would annihilate subspace throughout the Federation, or even the entire Alpha Quadrant. If that happened, warp speed anywhere in the quadrant would become impossible and subspace communication would no longer work."

"That would mean the obliteration of every interstellar civilization in the quadrant," Tuvok said. "Every single planet in the quadrant would be permanently isolated, cut off from all others. Any civilizations that did not yet have warp drive would never discover it."

"Exactly," Janeway said. "That's the reason the Omega Directive exists, and why no one below the rank of Captain has ever been briefed on it. Until now. Starfleet buried as much of the data from Lantaru as they could, holding on to the rest as a way to research ways to safely destroy it.

"Which brings us to today. That shockwave we encountered that dropped us out of warp was the result of an Omega particle explosion."

"I gathered as much," the Doctor said. "I doubt you'd be breaking long standing Starfleet protocol otherwise."

"The Omega Directive is a top-secret order instructing that, if so much as _one_ Omega particle is encountered, it is to be destroyed at _any_ cost, including ignoring any and all other orders and instructions, including the Prime Directive."

"Damn," Harry muttered under his breath. He'd spent his whole life being told how sacrosanct the Prime Directive was, to the point where he sometimes wondered if people forgot that the directive had been written by sentients beings and wasn't an edict handed down from a god.

"I've calculated the location of the Omega particles we've found here in the Delta Quadrant," Janeway said. "Tom, I'll transfer the coordinates to helm. Take us there at full impulse."

"Yes Captain," Tom said.

"I don't think I need to tell you all what's at stake here," Janeway said. "This may be the most important mission we've undertaken since the Caretaker brought us here. We've got our work cut out for us. Dismissed."

* * *

Seven of Nine was not one for pride, but she had to admit as she looked at the schematics for the device she'd just designed that it was almost a tragedy that she couldn't share this accomplishment with Sam. It wasn't entirely completed yet, but the groundwork had been laid and Seven had no doubts that it would be ready by the time _Voyager_ reached it's destination. Sooner even if she had assistance on the project, but the rest of the senior staff was busy with their part of the mission and she wasn't allowed to tell anyone else, though she doubted that anyone other than Captain Janeway, Ensign Kim, or Lieutenant Torres would be able to keep up with her.

 _That sounded like pride to me,_ her inner voice told her. She was about to tell her inner voice to shut up, regardless of the fact that doing so would be a futile gesture, when Captain Janeway entered the cargo bay.

"Status report," she said.

Seven motioned the Captain over to look at the console screen she'd been working on. "This is a harmonic resonance chamber that will dissolve the inter-atomic bonds of the Omega molecules, destroying them."

Janeway cleared her throat. "Good work, but I thought I asked you to work on the photon torpedo."

"You did. But a torpedo may be insufficient. This is based on a Borg design. It was originally meant for containment, but as you can see here, I've made modifications."  
Janeway took a look, nodding every few moments.

"Excellent work Seven," she said.

"Thank you," Seven said. "Additional modifications will be required, and the calculations are complex. I would like your assistance."

"All right," Janeway said, immediately picking up another PADD and making entries.

"I'm curious," she said. "When exactly did the Borg discover Omega?"

"229 years ago," Seven said.

"Through assimilation?"

"Correct. Of thirteen different species, starting with Species 262. They were primitive, but their oral history-"

"Bridge to the Captain," Chakotay's voice said over the comm.

"Go ahead," Janeway said.

"We're approaching the coordinates," Chakotay replied.

"On my way," Janeway said. She put down the PADD she'd been working on. "I'm leaving this project in your hands. Use whatever resources and personnel you need."

"Understood," Seven said.

* * *

"I don't get it. How could a pre-warp civilization be able to do research on something like Omega?" B'Elanna said.

"Not all species develop along the same path technologically speaking," Seven said. "The Borg have assimilated species in the past whose medical technologies for instance were centuries ahead of the Federations, yet their transportation vehicles still ran on steam power. It is illogical to assume that every species in the galaxy would discover the same technologies your people have in the same order."

"Fair enough." The door to the cargo bay opened, and gold shirted crewmen began carrying equipment into the cargo bay, led by Joe Carey. B'Elanna stepped aside.

"It's your show," she said. As she left she nodded to the crewmen. "Alright everyone, just remember, this device is Seven of Nine's baby. Follow her orders like you would mine. I'll be in engineering if you need me."

A chorus of "Yes sirs" and "Yes ma'ams" followed. Seven immediately set the crewmen to work building her resonance chamber. Of all of them, only Carey didn't seem tense. She realized that she had never actually interacted with any of them apart from Carey. She considered making a joke of some kind to break the tension but decided against it as her deadpan delivery might lead to confusion that she meant what she said.

"Here you go Seven," Carey said, handing her a PADD. "This is everyone assigned to your team, including their fields of expertise and what areas they excelled at in the Academy, so you don't put anyone on the team somewhere where they can't give you their best."

"I appreciate it Mr. Carey," Seven said. She looked at the PADD and quickly scanned it. "For now we only need to focus on the casing for the chamber. Everyone listed here is perfectly qualified, and... huh."

"What is it?"

"Sam's name is listed here for the next shift. Her field of expertise is xenobiology."

"True, but several of the personnel I wanted to add to this list are going to be planetside with the Captain, and if we're going to get this thing built on schedule we need hands. Are you concerned her being here is going to be a distraction?"

"Not at all," Seven said. She tapped a button on the PADD. "I'll have her work on the power relays with Ensign Kim. He's more experienced, but it will require two sets of hands."

"Got it. Where do you want me in the meantime?" Carey said.

Seven looked around the cargo bay, where the crew was already at work.

"For now a supervisory role. Make sure everyone is working at maximum efficiency. I will be at the console, running additional calculations if I'm needed."

* * *

When Samantha entered the cargo bay along with several other gold and blue shirted officers, the bulk of the work on Seven of Nine's harmonic resonance chamber had been done. She still had no idea what it was for, but she was impressed nonetheless.

"Samantha Wildman, reporting for duty," she said with a wink. Seven simply nodded.

"I'm afraid we'll have to forgo our usual flirtation and innuendo for the remainder of this project," Seven said as matter of factly as she would tell you what time it was. "The Captain wants this done within the hour. Did Mr. Carey give you your assignment?"

"Affirmative," Samantha said. Seven gave her a very brief smile.

"Ensign Kim is right over there," she said, pointing. "He was early, so approximately ten percent of your task has already been completed."

"I see him," Samantha said. "I'll get right on it."

Samantha was not an engineer by any stretch, but there had been some basics about starship operation that she needed to know in order to graduate from the academy, so she didn't need to ask Harry what he needed and immediately began assisting. While she was performing her assigned task, she spotted Commander Chakotay entering the cargo bay in her peripheral vision.

"How's it coming?" she heard him ask.

"The crew has been very efficient," Seven said. "We should be done ahead of schedule."

"How far ahead of schedule?"

"Within two to three minutes," Seven said.

"That's not a lot," Chakotay said.

"Agreed, but considering the lack of experience anyone on this ship, myself included, has in building such a device it was equally likely that we would be behind schedule. Thankfully that has not been a concern. Mr. Carey in particular has exceeded expectations."

"Okay then, I'll let the Captain know."

"Has the Captain retrieved any new data from the surface?" Seven asked.

"Not yet," Chakotay said.

"Were there any survivors?"

"A few. The Doctor is treating them right now."

Chakotay turned to leave. Samantha noticed that Seven had stopped working and was still looking in Chakotay's direction, though not at him.

"Sam, you okay?" Harry said, causing Samantha to look away from Seven.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, fine," Samantha said, not wanting to bother Harry with her worry about Seven's sudden state of distraction. She wondered what it was that the Commander had said that caused that. _Is it about the aliens in sickbay?_ she thought. She turned back to see how Seven was doing, in time to see her exit the cargo bay.

* * *

Seven entered sickbay. The Doctor was treating the injured aliens from the facility, each bio-bed sickbay occupied. She wondered if this were all the survivors total, or if there had been others who had been treated and released.

Seven stepped up to the Doctor who was looking over a diagnostic.

"Which of them is the senior researcher?" she said.

"This gentleman," the Doctor said, motioning his head towards the one who occupied the bio-bed in the surgical bay. "Why do you ask?"

"He has knowledge I require," she said.

"He is barely conscious," the Doctor said. "Can you come back later?"

"Later may be too late Doctor," she said. "The Captain left me in charge of our efforts here on _Voyager_. I would be negligent if I ignored a new source of information."

"Very well," the Doctor said. He walked over to the bio-bed and began talking to the patient. "How are you feeling sir?"

"Fine, thank you," the alien said, slowly but coherently.

"Are you feeling well enough to speak with my shipmate here?" the Doctor said, motioning towards Seven.

"I- I think so," the alien said.

The Doctor nodded. "Keep it brief," he said to Seven.

"How many of the particles were you able to synthesize?" she said.

"200 million, I think."

"What is the Iso-frequency of your containment field?"

The researcher tilted his head slightly. "1.68 terahertz," he said. "We used their own resonance to calculate the field. That should've been enough to stabilize them, but obviously it wasn't."

"True, but your approach was innovative. Perhaps I can adapt your technique and improve upon it."

"I could," the alien said, struggling to sit upright. "assist you. Our equipment was destroyed but if you could transfer the particles to your ship, maybe they can be saved."

"Assisting me in your condition would be inadvisable. I respect your dedication to the pursuit of knowledge, but we can handle this from here. We will destroy the Omega particles and-"

"What?" the alien said, clearly trying to yell, but not yet strong enough to do so. "You can't do that. This particle is the salvation of my people, our resources are nearly gone. The future of my people depends on this discovery!"

"Doctor," Seven said. "Your patient is becoming agitated. I will return to my duties." She turned to leave.

"You small-minded creatures," the alien said, his voice getting louder now. "Destroying what you don't understand! Rescue ships from my government are on their way. They won't let you destroy our work."

"Sir, please try to remain calm," the Doctor said, now standing beside Seven.

"Thank you for letting me speak to him Doctor. His information will be most helpful."

" _You don't know what you are doing! You don't know what this means_!" the alien researcher screamed at Seven as she left sickbay. Once the door closed behind her, she let out a sad sigh.

"Sadly, I do know what it means," she said quietly.

* * *

Seven looked at the completed device in the cargo bay with open admiration. Despite her having left them rather abruptly, the only thing that was still needed when she returned was the iso-frequency which she'd obtained from the head researcher.

"Not bad huh?" Samantha said.

"An understatement," Seven said. "I had projected it would be completed early, but even that proved to be underestimating the crew."

"Well, what can I say?" Samantha said, putting her arm around Seven's waist. "We had a good team leader. Now if only I knew what it was actually for."

"That part is still classified, but thank you for the compliment. Perhaps I should consider taking command courses."

Samantha chuckled. "Captain Seven of Nine. Doesn't really roll off the tongue does it?"

Seven contemplated making a joke about tongues when Chakotay entered the cargo bay. After asking Samantha to wait outside, he relayed Captain Janeway's orders that they would be using the resonance chamber to destroy the Omega particles as there were too many on the planet for their Plan A to work.

"I do not believe we need to destroy them," Seven said. "Using information I obtained from the head researcher of the complex, I am certain I've discovered a way to stabilize them. He had an approach that was unknown to the Borg. I can modify the chamber to-"

"Those weren't your orders," Chakotay said. "The captain wants Omega eliminated, and that's what we're going to do."

"That is still an option," Seven said, struggling to remain calm. This was as close to a religious experience for her as she could ever have, something that even as a Borg drone she felt a desire for. She had to convince the crew to let her do this. "The chamber's primary function, destroying Omega, will remain intact. My modifications will not interfere with that capacity."

Chakotay sighed, looking angry at having to have this conversation. "Show me what you've done," he said.

Seven pulled up the simulation she'd put together while the crewmembers who had helped finish the chamber were clearing out, and explained in detail to Chakotay what she planned to do and why she was convinced it would work.

"Looks great in theory," he said. "But this is only a simulation. How are you going to test it?"

"On Omega," Seven said, surprised that Chakotay even had to ask. Chakotay scoffed, and Seven felt as though she'd been physically punched when he did so.

"Bad idea," he said. "One mistake and no one will be around for a second try."

"It will work," Seven insisted.

"Someday, maybe. For now we stick to the plan, but hold on to your research. Privately of course, I won't tell the Captain if you don't."

"In nine months of service aboard _Voyager_ ," Seven said, feeling her voice crack the way it did when she was about to cry. "I have never made a personal request, never asked for a single favor. I am asking now. Allow me to proceed. Please."

"Why is this so important to you?" Chakotay said.

Seven sighed, and found herself wishing Samantha was here. "As a drone, I was under instructions to assimilate Particle 010, what you call Omega, at all costs. The Borg believe it to be perfection embodied. The particle exists in a flawless state with infinite parts functioning as one. Even though I am no longer Borg, I want, no, I need to understand that perfection. I doubt that I will truly be complete without it. Commander, you are a spiritual man. If you had the chance to see your God, your Great Spirit, what would you do? This matter is as close to a spiritual one as I can get."

Chakotay nodded. "I would pursue it with all my heart. I understand your emotions here Seven, and I promise to talk to the captain about your idea, but for now at least, her orders still stand."

"Thank you," Seven said quietly. Chakotay nodded, and left. Samantha re-entered the cargo bay.

"More classified stuff huh? Whatever it is I- Annie? Are you crying?" Seven opened her mouth to speak, but realized that she couldn't tell the woman she loved what was really going on.

"Yes," was all she could bring herself to say.

"Can you tell me about it?" Samantha said, putting a hand gently on Seven's arm.

Seven of Nine could only shake her head. Samantha pulled her in close and held her. Seven welcomed the embrace.

"I want to tell you, so bad," she whispered into Samantha's ear. "I understand why it's classified, I really do, and I can't hate the captain for this, but it is still difficult."

"I want to understand what you're going through Annie," Samantha said. "but I know I can't. Just know that I'm here for you, no matter what."

* * *

The resonance chamber glowed blue from the Omega particles now residing within them. _Voyager_ had had to get dangerously close to the planet, even with the pattern buffer enhancers aiding the transporter lock, but they had them. Seven found herself transfixed by the site.

The ship itself, she had been informed, was approaching the limits of the local subspace destruction, beyond which was an uninhabited region where they should be able to destroy Omega without condemning any world's population to never discovering warp drive, or bathing them with deadly theta radiation, should something go wrong. The alien ships behind them however, were likely to reach them before they are clear of the subspace destruction. Seven however was confident that they would not fire, since _Voyager_ has their Omega, a confidence which the captain shared.

While she was neutralizing the particles as per orders, hopeful that enough would be left for her to attempt to stabilize if the Commander was able to convince Janeway to let her try, Janeway entered the cargo bay.

"Captain," Seven said.

"Report," Janeway said.

"11% of the particles have been neutralized so far."

"Let's see if we can speed up that process a little."

"Did Commander Chakotay tell you about my hypothesis?"

"Yes, he did. I'm sorry, I can't let you go through with it."

Seven tensed up. "The Omega Directive is no longer relevant. I have found a way to control the particle."

"I don't care if you can make it sing _The Mikado_ in Klingon, we're getting rid of it." Janeway said.

"A foolish decision," Seven said, abandoning all pretense of politeness.

"Maybe, but it's mine to make. Step aside."

Seven remembered something Samantha had once said to her about internally counting to ten. She did so, then spoke in a tone that was less angry, though only a little.  
"I could have done this without your permission, but I chose to follow your command structure. I should've made the attempt on my own."

"You still can I suppose, but I would be obligated to stop you." Janeway sighed, rubbing her eyes. "Dammit Seven, do you think I'm doing this to spite you? The safety of the quadrant is at stake. The safety of this ship. The safety of-"

"Don't," Seven said, certain she knew what Janeway was going to say next. "Don't try to use Sammy and Naomi against me. If I believed for a nanosecond this would endanger their lives we wouldn't even be having this conversation because I never would've made the suggestion to the Commander in the first place."

Janeway took a step back, but not in a way that indicated any fear of Seven.

"Okay, I won't. What I will say is this; your idea is sound, I'll give you that. But you have no guarantee that it will work. If it does not, it would be the end of us and the quadrant will be doomed. You know I'm right."

Seven stared at Janeway for a moment, then sighed. She didn't want to admit it, but Janeway was right.

"I will monitor the particles at the chamber's imager," she said. "Would you be willing to replace me at the controls?"

"It's the least I can do," Janeway said. Once Seven was at the imager, Janeway asked her what the status was now.

"Eighteen percent," she said. Janeway groaned.

"This could take hours," she said.

"Fast, cheap, good, pick two," Seven said.

"What?"

"An engineering joke I heard from Joe Carey earlier today. An oversimplification, but somewhat relatable to our situation."

"Could we increase the resonance?"

"Not without rupturing the chamber,' Seven said. Janeway looked like she was considering her options.

"How many of the particles would be destroyed before the rupture?"

"Fifty percent, at best. What are you suggesting?"

Janeway didn't reply to her directly, instead tapping her comm badge and calling Tuvok. When she told the tactical officer to prepare the gravimetric torpedo that had been their first plan before seeing how many particles there actually were. Seven figured out the rest on her own, and had to admit that it was a plan that was likely to succeed; destroy up to half of the molecules almost immediately eject the chamber out into space, and the gravimetric charge would take care of the rest. As soon as Janeway told Chakotay to prepare to decompress the cargo bay, Seven spoke up again.

"A creative solution, Captain."

"Glad you approve," Janeway said. Seven walked over to her alcove. She heard Janeway behind her say, "Seven, what are you doing?"

"Anything unsecured in the bay will be blown out into space when the Commander decompresses it. I must find that drawing of me Naomi made several months ago. She would be quite displeased if I allowed it to-"

The ship shuddered slightly, disrupting Seven's train of thought. For a fraction of a second she thought that perhaps the aliens had fired on them, but quickly realized the vibration was wrong for that.

"I believe the alien ships are attempting to lock a tractor beam on us," she said.

"No warp drive, but ships capable of catching up with us at sublight speeds, tractor beams, and the ability to create Omega particles? This species just doesn't make any damn sense," Janeway said.

Seven quickly thought up several examples of races whose technological development was easily more unusual than this, but decided to wait until later to bring them up. The ship shuddered again.

"That was definitely weapons fire," Janeway said.

"Agreed," Seven said. _On second thought,_ she thought, _the Captain's right. This race's technological development doesn't make any sense_. "Eighty percent of the particles remain."

"We need to get that down to sixty," Janeway said as the ship shuddered again.

"Any damage of our power grid and the chamber could overload."

"Tell me something I don't know," Janeway said as she began hitting buttons on the console harder, as if hoping that would speed up the process.

"We are now at seventy-two percent," Seven said.

"That'll have to do," Janeway said, tapping her comm badge. "Bridge, start the decompression sequence."

"Acknowledged," Chakotay said.

A noise began emanating from the resonance chamber.

"What's happening?" Janeway said.

"The particles are stabilizing," Seven said, shocked at what she was seeing on her PADD.

"What?" Janeway said. "Did you-"

"I did nothing," Seven said, going over to the imager. "It's occurring spontaneously."

"That's impossible," Janeway said, but Seven only barely heard her. She was only vaguely aware of all other sounds. She heard but didn't process Janeway ordering her to follow her out of the cargo bay before the inner doors sealed shut. She heard but did not process the computer counting down. All her attention was focused on the imager. She watched the particles' component atoms swirl around each until they formed a perfect, complex, molecular lattice structure.

"It's beautiful," she said.

"Seven? Seven?! ANNIKA!"

Hearing her birth name called out by someone other than Samantha finally got her attention.

"Decompression in ten seconds," the computer's voice said.

"Come on, let's go," Janeway said, tugging on Seven's arm. Seven dropped her PADD, picked up Naomi's drawing, and ran for the door just steps behind Janeway.

* * *

The next morning, the ship's rumor mill was in full force. Seven heard many things about what the chamber had been for, why it had been jettisoned into space and destroyed, why the alien ships had been chasing them. None of it was true of course, but she couldn't confirm or deny any of the questions any of the crew asked her. Not even the one she desired to share her feelings with the most.

She entered Samantha's quarters. Samantha and Naomi were eating dinner. Naomi smiled and waved.

"Hi," she said.

"Hello," Seven said back.

"Annie, wasn't expecting to see you tonight. I thought you had to recharge."

"The Captain ordered me to do so early," Seven said. She sat down on the edge of the bed she sometimes shared with Samantha when she wasn't in her alcove. "I had something akin to a religious experience today Sammy. I don't know a better word to describe it. I just wish it wasn't all classified."

"What does classified mean?" Naomi said.

Seven sighed. "It means I can't tell you anything about what happened yesterday, ever." The child pouted.

"Well that's not fair," she said.

"You're right, it's not," Seven said. "Enjoy being a child Naomi Wildman. Children generally don't have to keep secrets from people they love."

Samantha reached out to Seven, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"We're already done with dinner, but you can have dessert with us if you want," she said. Seven smiled.

"As long as it is ludicrously unhealthy," Seven said. "I believe the phrase is 'comfort food?' Whatever that is, I think I need a lot of it tonight."

 **Chapter Eight**

Seven of Nine was surprisingly calm when she entered sickbay. She's heard that Samantha Wildman, like much of the crew, had been hurt when the ship had attempted to pass through a nearby nebula, the radiation causing burns and sores. But Samantha herself had been the one to contact her, to let her know the burns were minor, and that Naomi, while scared, had not been hurt at all.

She saw Samantha getting off the bio-bed and helping a much more severely injured crewman, an Ensign named Dell who had been very helpful in helping Seven build a resonance chamber a few weeks prior, on to it.

"Hi," Samantha said when she saw Seven.

"Ah good, you're here," the Doctor said, shoving a dermal regenerator into Seven's hand without asking first. "You're needed on the bridge, I'm too short handed down here to go myself. I had to draft Ensign Wildman to help me."

"Of course Doctor, I just wanted to check in on her first," Seven said.

"I'm good Annie, but you should get the bridge. And hurry, it sounded like they got some of the worst of it."

"Very well," Seven said, offering the Doctor a polite nod and smiling at Samantha as she headed out.

When Seven got to the bridge with the regenerator, she sighed as she saw that for one gold shirted crewman was already dead, his face burned beyond recognition.

"Damn," she muttered.

"Do we know what caused this?" Janeway said.

"I believe the Doctor will know once he's finished treating the wounded," Seven said as she began applying the dermal regenerator to an injured Ensign. "Whatever it was, it would appear to have affected everyone except the Doctor and myself."

"Hopefully that will give us a way to counteract this," Janeway said. "That nebula is so big it would take a year to go around, I don't want to add that much time to the trip home."

"Captain," Seven said. "As a result of the course adjustments we made with the new astrometrics lab we already took five years off the flight plan. Even with an extra year, that is still a net loss of time spent in the Delta Quadrant."

"Don't forget the six months we had to add to get around the Krenim," Janeway said.

"Even so Captain-"

"I'm not ready to give up on finding a safe way through that nebula just yet Seven. If there's no way through, we'll go around but we have to try."

"Understood," Seven said.

* * *

A few hours later, Janeway entered astrometrics where Seven of Nine was figuring out just how large the nebula ahead of them was.

"Report," she said. Seven immediately brought the data up on the viewscreen.

"It is approximately one hundred and ten light years wide," she said. "You were correct that going around it would take over a year. Through it would take almost one month, if we could find a way to inoculate against the subnucleonic radiation."

"Subnucleonic radiation?" Janeway said. "That's what hurt us?"

"Correct. I have passed that information along to the Doctor. If he is unable to find a medical solution, going around is the only viable option."

"We have travelled fifteen thousand light years. We haven't been stopped by temporal anomalies, warp core breaches, viruses, or hostile aliens. It'll be a cold day in Hell if we're going to be stopped by a goddamn nebula. I'll be in sickbay. Keep finding out what you can about this thing."

"Yes Captain," Seven said as Janeway stormed out.

Once she got to sickbay, she didn't even need to ask the Doctor for his report, as he began relaying what he'd learned.

"I've analyzed samples of the nebula's gases," he said.

"Subnucleonic radiation," Janeway said. "Seven already informed me. She said you were working on a possible inoculation for it."

"I appreciate her vote of confidence, but I'm afraid that's just not possible. But, I think I have found a solution that will keep us from adding to add another year to our journey home."

"That was quick," Janeway said.

"It helped that part of this idea came from another idea I was working on that I was able to modify," the Doctor walked over to one of the consoles in his office and tapped a few buttons. "Stasis chambers," he said. "Independent life support for each unit."

Janeway was shocked at what she was seeing. "Are you seriously suggesting we put the entire crew in suspended animation?"

"Yes. I of course would stay on line to monitor everyone. And since Seven of Nine was unaffected, she can assist me in handling the day to day operations of the ship until we've passed through the nebula."

"This seems like a pretty desperate move Doctor. Are you sure you've considered all other options?" Janeway said, hating the idea of having to sleep for an entire month, let alone leaving her first command in the hands of a hologram and an ex-Borg.

"I have considered other options Captain. We really only have two if we intend to continue heading home. Go around, or this. The former is the safest of these two options but I know you too well to even try and push for it."

Janeway sighed, closed her eyes, and tapped her comm badge.

"Janeway to Seven of Nine, report to sickbay."

"On my Captain," Seven replied.

"I appreciate your efforts Doctor. Get to work getting enough stasis units ready."

"Understood," the Doctor said.

* * *

"I'd be lying if I said didn't have concerns," Seven of Nine said as she rubbed Samantha Wildman's shoulders. "Most humanoid species do not react well to long-term isolation. Captain Janeway is correct that, as a former Borg drone, this will be even more difficult for me. She expressed concern if I could handle it if the Doctor were to go offline due to a malfunction."

"I think you can do it," Samantha said softly, leaning back to rest her head on Seven's chest.

"I know you can do it Seven," Naomi said, looking up from her book. "You and the Doctor are the smartest people I know, you can do anything!" Seven chuckled at Naomi's enthusiastic smile, even as Samantha pretended to be offended at having been excluded from her daughter's 'smart people' list. Seven watched as Samantha got up and went to help Naomi get ready for the stasis tubes.

 _I have never had so many doubts about my abilities before,_ she thought. _The whole crew will be counting on me and the Doctor to get them through this alive, but it's them I'm most worried for._

"Remember sweetie," Samantha said to Naomi, "we need to be at the cargo bay by 1700 hours, so now's the time to pick which of your stuffed animals you wanna bring with you. You can only bring two."

"Okay Mom," Naomi said, getting off the floor and going to her room.

Seven got off the couch and hugged Samantha from behind, now resting her head on Samantha's back.

"It's going to be a long month," she said.

"You can do this Annie," Samantha replied. "In the past year you have helped save this ship several times, adapted to being cut off from the Borg collective, built the best astrometrics lab any Starfleet ship has ever had, and managed to start a dare-I-say successful romantic relationship despite lacking any practical experience. Even if something does go wrong with the Doctor, you'll get us to the other side of that nebula."

"I hope your confidence in me is not misplaced," Seven said, which was as close as she could bring herself to admitting her fears even to the being on this ship she trusted most.

"Don't call it confidence, call it faith," Samantha said.

"Nonetheless," Seven said. "While the Doctor and I are under orders to monitor the crew' vital signs four times day, I think I may try to sneak in a few extra sessions for you and Naomi in between my regular duties."

"Don't do anything reckless on our account babe," Samantha said. "Just keep the ship safe, and in a month we'll wake up feeling like we just had a nice long nap."

"Once we have completed the mission," Seven said. "I think I will finally take you up on your offer of the holodeck program you talked about." Samantha sighed contentedly at that.

"Oh, you will love it Annika. Santa Fe is one of the few cities on Earth that has most of it's pre-Eugenics Wars buildings still standing. I got to see it on a class trip when I was in high school and I loved it, but I haven't been back since I graduated. I just hope I get to show you the real thing someday."

"I look forward to it," Seven said.

* * *

At 1700, the crew began entering the stasis pods, with Seven and the Doctor overseeing them. The command staff were among the first to enter, although Tom Paris was showing reluctance.

"Do I detect a hint of claustrophobia Lieutenant?" the Doctor said. Tom laughed nervously.

"I just don't know why they have to design these things like coffins," he said.

"Whatever," Harry Kim said. "I'm just looking forward to what is probably going to be my best sleep in months. If you like I'm sure Seven of Nine would be willing to replicate you a teddy bear."

"That would not be necessary," Seven said. "Naomi will be leaving a number of her stuffed animals behind, I'm sure I could convince her to loan one to Mr. Paris."

Harry laughed at that. The Doctor grinned, and Captain Janeway turned to hide her face from Seven's view, presumably stifling a laugh of her own.

"Bite me Seven," Tom said.

"Considering you're dating a Klingon that was a poor choice of words," Seven said. From the other side of the cargo bay she could hear B'Elanna laughing now too.

"Don't encourage them," Tom said, shaking his head. He turned to face Seven. "This is pay back over the whole 'language' thing isn't it?"

"Sleep tight," the Doctor said, as Harry and finally Tom got in their respective pods, the doors closing over them. Soon, only Janeway was left, having told Seven earlier that she would go in last.

"I'm leaving this ship in good hands," Janeway said as she climbed into her own pod. "I have every confidence in both of you."

The Doctor grinned. Seven simply nodded.

"Thank you Captain," she said. "And thank you for insuring that the Wildman's pods were close to my alcove. I had not even considered asking."

"I thought having them nearby might make this a little easier on you. Feel free to talk to them. They won't hear you in the pods of course, but it's not for their benefit. Trust me on this," Janeway said.

Once Janeway's pod was sealed, the Doctor turned to Seven.

"Well," he said. "It's just the two of us now."

"Indeed," Seven said.

* * *

"Personal log, Seven of Nine, stardate 51929.3. This is the tenth day of our journey through the nebula. I've created an efficient daily routine. Having a set list of regular tasks to perform and a deadline to accomplish them, even if it self-imposed, has been helpful thus far, though with it only being less than two weeks in, I am concerned that declaring victory over isolation would be premature. The human term for it is 'jinxing.' Superstitious perhaps, but there is is historical precedent for early pronouncements of accomplishment leading to undesirable outcomes.

"I have taken to adding a flavor called pumpkin spice to my standard nutritional supplement, as per Ensign Wildman's suggestion. Mr. Neelix would likely not approve, given he tends to operate his kitchen in a fashion not unlike the brutal dictators of early 20th century Earth, and he does not grow any of these pumpkins in the aeroponics bay, thus I am replicating it. I find I rather like it, though not as much as when Samantha uses it in her cooking. Still, I think this will be a regular occurrence. Speaking of Sam, I have taken the captain's advice and when I can, I will occasionally sit between her and Naomi's pods, and talk to them. It is frivolous of course, but also oddly comforting. I look forward to seeing them again once we have passed this nebula.

"One note of concern; I have on occasion found myself saying 'Thank you' to the ship's computer after it performs a task I have ordered it to. I hope I am not becoming emotionally attached to it. Perhaps it is an early symptom of some form of isolation sickness. I will speak to the Doctor about it upon completion of this entry.

"End log."

* * *

On her way to sickbay, Seven of Nine found Tom Paris lying on the floor, unconscious in the doorway to the cargo bay.

"Not again" she groaned. "Seven of Nine to the Doctor," she said after tapping her comm badge.

"Mr. Paris?"

"Correct. I am beginning to suspect adding the ability to open the pods from the inside was a mistake."

"A necessary safety feature. At least so far he seems to be the only one abusing it. I'm on my way. Get him back into his pod as quick as you can."

"I know the drill," she said. She tapped the badge again, and put her arms under Tom's and dragged him to his feet.

"Samantha would think less of me for being this selfish, but I must admit I find myself resentful of your claustrophobia. Lucky for me you can't hear me right now."

Once Tom was back in his pod, she closed the door to it, just in time for the Doctor to arrive.

"Vital signs?" he asked.

"I was just about to check," she said, going to the console on the back of the pod. "They are stable. No signs of any permanent damage."

"Well that's good at least. I wish I'd known before we put him in there the first time how severe his claustrophobia actually was."

"Indeed. Having to reinter him at least once every several days frequently forces me to alter my daily routine," Seven said.

"Well, that might not be such a bad thing. Routine is a double edged sword, it can as easily become a source of frustration as it can as source of stability."

Seven sighed, not wanting to admit the Doctor was right, but knowing that he most likely was.

"I'd suggest more social interaction training on the holodeck, but you keep finding loopholes in my lessons."

"The social lessons are frivolous. You claim they are to help me learn how to interact with the crew properly, yet I would point out that without such programs I was still able to start a romantic relationship, and I even on occasion dine with the crew in the mess hall. I think you only force me into these programs because you can't accept the fact that I am growing in my humanity faster than you prepared for, and you don't want these holodeck programs you designed for me to go to waste. You failed to predict the pace of my emotional growth. Accept it, and move on."

"How you interact with most of the crew would be acceptable for a Vulcan, but that's not what I'm trying to teach-"

The ship shuddered, cutting the Doctor off, much to Seven of Nine's relief.

"Warning: Emergency procedures are in effect," the computer's voice said.

"Computer," the Doctor said, "What is the nature of the emergency?"

"The antimatter storage tanks are failing."

Seven and the Doctor shared a look of concern, and bolted for the exit. As soon as they reached the door to engineering, Seven began tapping on one of the consoles next to it to see just what was going wrong.

"We've got to eject the antimatter tanks," she said, deciding to spare the Doctor the exact details of, as her human crewmates would put it, precisely how screwed they were.  
"We'll need to coordinate the effort," the Doctor said. "You go into engineering, I'll head to the bridge."

* * *

When Seven of Nine opened the door to engineering, she was braced for the worst, expecting to see the room flooded with plasma, worried that she wouldn't be able to eject the tanks except possibly at the cost of her own life. But what she saw instead was the room exactly as it was when she last inspected it.

"This is mildly confusing," she muttered under her breath. She stepped further inside, looking for any sign of the crisis the computer was reporting,

"Bridge to Seven," she heard the Doctor's voice say, sounding panicked.

"I'm here," she replied.

"It's worse than we thought. Engineering is flooded with plasma. Are you already-"

"Doctor, there's nothing happening here."

"What? But internal scanners show, wait, there's another alarm. Seven, the hull is breaching, get out!"

"Doctor, I am in engineering right now. You left me right outside the door, remember? There is no plasma leak, no hull breach. We've received a false alarm. Stand down."

"Are you certain?"

Seven sighed and rolled her eyes. "No Doctor. I am in fact dead and my ghost is feeding you false information."

There was a pause.

"Well, at least we know your sense of sarcasm is developing normally," the Doctor said.

* * *

"The subnucleonic radiation from the nebula has begun to affect the bio-neural gel packs," the Doctor said, looking at console in engineering." As a result, the computer is detecting false signals relating to the warp core."

"I have already determined the location of the damaged packs," Seven said. "And I have a repair kit ready."

"Good work Seven. Let's go."

The two crawled into a nearby jeffries tube, ready to get to work. The last thing either of them wanted was another false alarm, or worse, a real crisis not being detected until it was too late.

"These tubes weren't designed with comfort in mind were they?" the Doctor said as they crawled along.

"No, they were not," Seven said. "Complaining about it now though accomplishes nothing. We can access sequence six-theta-nine from the junction just ahead. That's where the damaged gel packs are."

"Got it," the Doctor said. Seven of Nine quickly got the panel off, and removed the damaged gel pack, which the Doctor immediately began scanning with his tricorder.

"I'll want to get this one back to sick-bay for further study."

"Of course," Seven said.

"Well, this journey certainly hasn't been boring has-" the Doctor began to appear fuzzy.

"Your mobile emitter must've been damaged," Seven said, not hiding the concern in her voice. "We need to get you back to sickbay, quickly."

"Hurry, we may lose my program if we don't."

"Don't panic, it's counterproductive," Seven said.

"Easy for you to say," the Doctor said. Once they were out of the jeffries tube, the two ran as fast as they could, reaching sickbay just before the Doctor's mobile emitter gave out.

"Hand me the emitter," she said. The Doctor did so, and she began scanning it. After a few moments, she took in a deep breath. "The emitter has been damaged by the nebula in the same way as the gel packs. I'm afraid you can no longer leave sickbay."

"I was afraid of that. That means it'll be up to you to take care of everything on the ship."

"I can do this Doctor," Seven said. "I will ensure this ship makes it through the nebula."

"Do whatever it takes to help the ship," the Doctor said. "But don't forget to take care of yourself too. We can't afford to have either _Voyager_ or yourself break down when we've still got weeks to go."

* * *

"Personal log, Seven of Nine, stardate 51932.4. The twenty-ninth day in the nebula. I believe I'm beginning to feel the effects of this prolonged isolation. My dreams have been... disturbing, but I'm determined to fulfill my responsibilities. With the Doctor confined to sickbay, I have taken on increasing duties. Ship's systems are beginning to require constant maintenance in order to avert disaster. This morning I must... purge the auxiliary plasma vents.

"This increase in the amount of responsibility for me has meant I've not been able to spend time talking to Sammy or Naomi when I check on their stasis chambers. I regret having referred to it as frivolous in an earlier entry. I took it for granted, the comfort that it brought me. Perhaps if I finish the vents early, I can check in on them early.

"End log."

Seven entered the bridge and went over to the helm controls, as she usually did at this time of day, to see if there was a need to adjust course. There usually was, and today was no different.

"Computer," she said, grateful that she'd be hearing at least one voice other than her own or the Doctor's. "trim heading by .31 degrees port."

No response.

"Computer? Computer respond. Trim heading by .31 degrees port!"

The computer took several, long, agonizing seconds to respond. When it did, the voice was slow, and eventually cut out altogether, ending on "Unable to comply."

Seven sat down at the helm and did the course correction manually, then ordered the computer to diagnose itself. It provided a text report on a nearby monitor, showing that one third of the gel pack relays were non-functional.

After uttering a number of curse words she'd learned from various crew members, she had the computer perform a rerouting of processor signals to bypass the affected gel packs. She went over to the turbolift and stepped in.

"Astrometrics," she said tentatively, half worried that the turbolifts would suddenly stop working. Mercifully, the lift worked perfectly. As soon as she got to astrometrics, she began doing long range scans.

"Display _Voyager_ 's current position within the nebula," she said. The screen adjusted to show her the information. "How long until we exit the nebula?"

"Six days, five hours," the computer replied, the rerouting of the processor signals having worked.

"Six days," Seven said. "That, does not seem too long."

Seven, a bit more confident now, returned to her plans for the day and headed off to engineering. Along the way however, she heard something that made her stop in her tracks. It took her a moment to process, but it sounded like cries of pain. And the person it sounded like they were coming from was Lieutenant Paris.

"Dammit Tom, why now?" she groaned. She walked as fast as she could towards the noise, but saw nothing there. She went to Deck 14, but all was as it should be. Tom's pod showed no sign of having been recently opened. She was about to head to sickbay, to ask the Doctor to do an examination on her, when the proximity alert alarm went off.

Feeling less like a Borg now than ever, she threw up her arms in frustration.

"What fresh Hell are you visiting on me now _Voyager_?!" she yelled as she stormed out of the cargo bay.

"Please restate the question," the computer said.

"Never mind. Are we being hailed by the approaching ship?"

"Affirmative."

"Open a channel."

"Channel opened."

"This is the Federation starship _Voyager_. State your identity."

"My name is Trajis Lo-Tarik. I'm in need of a microfusion chamber. Would you consider a trade?"

"Why are you in this nebula?" she said, suspicious of the alien on the other end of the communication.

"Trying to get through it, same as you I wager."

Seven thought about it for a moment. "Do you have liquid helium?" she said.

"As a matter fact," Trajis said. "I've got an ample supply. Today's your lucky day."

"That is debatable. I will beam you directly to one of our cargo bays."

"I didn't get your name, Captain," Trajis said.

"I am only the acting commander of this vessel. My designation is Seven of Nine."

"Seven of Nine eh? Okay then. Meet you in your cargo bay."

Seven of Nine could hear Samantha's voice in her mind calling the man she was speaking to a creep, but couldn't quite put into words why the man's tone made her feel so uncomfortable. When she got to the cargo bay, Trajis was leaning against one of the secured, empty cargo containers.

"You must be Seven of Nine," he said.

"That is correct," she said.

"That's an unusual name, even for an alien," he said. "How did you get it?"

"It was my Borg designation."

"Borg? Never heard of 'em. You alone on this ship?"

 _A phaser, a phaser, my kingdom for a phaser,_ Seven thought, paraphrasing something she'd heard the Doctor say once, something to do with horses.

"No. The crew is in stasis, and our Doctor is in sickbay," she said.

"Same is true of my co-pilot on my ship. Luckily, I happen to be resistant to the effects of the nebula."

Although Seven was feeling uncomfortable with the man's proximity to her, she decided to ask the next question on her mind anyway.

"What about your technology? The radiation has been damaging to ours," she said.

"I've had to rebuild my engines twice already. If you've been in here for three weeks, you're already doing better than I've been."

"I am hopeful our propulsion system will remain operational for the next six days," Seven said, again moving away from Trajis while not trying to appear rude.  
 _Forget being rude,_ her inner voice told her. _This guy is dangerous and you know it. Get him off the ship already._

"I must admit," Trahis said, disrupting Seven's train of thought. "I was surprised to see another ship in here. No one has ever managed to completely cross the nebula."

"If it weren't a necessity we wouldn't have even attempted," she said.

"I'm here by choice," he said, standing a few feet further away now much to Seven's relief. "I'm determined to be the first to cross. I've tried five times before and failed. This time I'm sure I'll make it. I want to see what's the other side."

"I can assure you it's nothing remarkable," Seven said.

"But I'll be the first of my kind to see it." Tarjis got closer again as Seven opened the lid on a container that she believed had a microfusion chamber in it. If it did, that meant that this man would be gone that much faster.

"Tell me," he said. "How are you dealing with the loneliness?"

Seven nearly shuddered at that. "What do you mean?" she said.

"You know what I mean. No matter what you say, you're all alone here. The isolation in this vast space must be unbearable. I've heard that drones can't stand being alone, severed from the Collective."

"You just just told me that you had never heard of the Borg before," Seven said, sternly. Her hand reaching for a nearby spanner. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"How about we get something to eat instead?" he said.

"No," Seven said, now brandishing the spanner like a club.

"Hmm. And here I was just making idle conversation. I guess you aren't that worried about the consequences of loneliness."

"I'm escorting you to the transporter room," she said. Trajis shrugged, then went out the cargo bay ahead of her. While escorting him to the transporter room thought, she thought she heard Tom Paris calling for help again. Reflexively, she looked around, but saw nobody. She then turned to Trajis to make sure he didn't try to get the drop on her, but he was gone. She ran in the direction he may have headed and saw a shadow moving.

"Seven of Nine to the Doctor. We have an intruder."

* * *

In sickbay, The Doctor scanned for but found no alien life form aboard or the ship he came from.

"It is possible he has some sort of cloaking technology," Seven said.

"Agreed," the Doctor said. "However even though I'm making progress on my mobile emitter, I still cannot leave sickbay. You'll need to arm yourself and track this Lo-Tarik character down alone."

Seven nodded. "Understood."

"You look uncertain," The Doctor said.

"I will do what must be done," Seven said. "As I have said on multiple occasions since we entered this nebula I can do this. I can't let Sam down. She put in her faith in me, and I intend to show her that it was not misplaced."

The Doctor wasn't sure he believed Seven was telling him the whole truth. He was certain she was afraid and was trying to hide. Before he could offer up any words of encouragement, the garbled voice of the computer cut him off.

"Warning: Deuterium tank levels are fluctuating beyond acceptable tolerance levels."

"It's likely Trajis has something to do with that," Seven said. "I will obtain a phaser rifle."

"Good luck," the Doctor said, watching with concern as Seven of Nine left sickbay.

* * *

Seven moved cautiously through the corridors, gripping her phaser rifle tightly. She could hear the echoing voices of crew members calling for help, but pushed them aside, assuming they were hallucinations like the ones she'd experienced earlier today. The hardest voice to ignore though was Samantha's, but that voice was cut off.

"Seven of Nine. That's an unusual name. How did you get it?" Trajis said, taunting her over the ship's comm system.

She refused to answer.

"Okay then Seven of Nine, if you don't wanna chat, I'll go ahead and collapse the structural integrity around the warp coils. That should be fun."

Seven gasped, and ran towards engineering, but she got there, he wasn't. She looked around to see if he done anything, but could find no sign that he'd been here at all.

"Where are you, you son of a bitch?" she muttered.

The ship's comm unit chirped. "I couldn't bring myself to destroy your nice little ship," Trajis's voice said. Suddenly, the lights went down. "I hope you aren't afraid of the dark."

"Where are you?" Seven said, sneering as she spoke.

"Good, finally some conversation. That's going to make this much more fun. For me anyway. I'm on your bridge by the way. I can do just about anything I want from up here."

"Very well," Seven said as she began working on one of the engineering consoles. "I will play your game. What's next?"

"Excellent. Okay. Hypothetical time. Say I activated one of your photon torpedoes but didn't eject it."

"I would have to get to the torpedo launch tube quickly to disable it."

"And even then you might be too late."

"How about this game? Let's pretend that I'm draining oxygen from the bridge. What do you suppose the results of that might be?"

"What? How, uh, I can't…" Trajis began gasping. Within seconds he was silent.

"Game over you bastard," Seven said, indulging in a trait she'd witnessed among many humans; that of uttering some sort of sarcastic comment or pun over a defeated enemy.

"Computer, seal the bridge with a level three force field," she added as an extra precaution.

"Seven of Nine to the Doctor," she said.

"Doctor here."

"I have subdued the alien."

"Excellent work. I have my mobile emitter back on-line. Where are you?"

"Engineering."

"I'll be right there. I have interesting news about the neural gel-packs."

"Acknowledged," Seven said, getting up from the seat at the console and heading for the door. It opened sooner than she expected given the distance between sickbay and engineering. She was prepared to ask the Doctor about the gel-packs, only to see Trajis standing in the doorway.

"You knew you'd see me again," he said. Seven immediately raised her phaser rifle and fired, but the energy just passed through him like he wasn't there. "You can't beat me little girl. You're too weak."

"Stay where you are," Seven said as forcefully as she could manage.

"You really thought you could become human didn't you?"

"Stop!"

"You even took a lover. Because that's what humans do right? They find a boy, or a girl, or someone who hasn't figured it out yet, and start a relationship with them?"

"Stay away," Seven said, her hands actually shaking now as Trajis got closer.

"But you can't be in love. That's not who you are. You're Borg."

Seven suddenly saw out the corner of her eye the familiar blue of _Voyager_ 's warp drive turn green, like the lights inside a Borg cube.

"One of many. You were powerful as part of the Collective but now you are alone. Weak. Pathetic. You're a novelty to Samantha. A curiosity to Naomi. An object of lust for Harry. An annoyance to the Doctor. A pet for the Captain. You aren't truly a part of this crew, and you never will be."

"Don't come any closer or I'll kill you," Seven yelled.

"Seven?" she heard the Doctor say, but she wouldn't turn to look in his direction, keeping her eyes on Trajis.

"Don't come any closer Doctor, he's dangerous," she said through gritted teeth.

"Seven, who are you talking to?"

Seven was so perplexed by that statement she actually did turn to look at the Doctor for a brief moment. When she turned back Trajis was gone, and the warp core was blue again.

"Where did he go?" she said. "He was right here."

"Seven, there's no one here, I promise you. You were alone when I entered, pointing that rifle at thin air."

Seven looked around, and realized he was right. She shook her head.

"He wasn't real. Just like the crew crying for help wasn't real," she said, not wanting to open her eyes, just wanting to crawl into a stasis pod of her own for the next six days so it could just be over. "I'm going crazy from the isolation, just as the Captain feared."

"Not exactly. When I studied the gel-pack, I discovered the radiation was producing a degradation in the packs' synaptic relays. I believe that the radiation is doing the same to your Borg implants, altering the neurotransmitter level in your sensory nodes.

"Can you modify the implants to stop the hallucinations?" Seven said.

"I can."

"Then do so. Quickly, please." Seven took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. She could still feel her heart racing, though in the pleasant way it did whenever Samantha touched her. "Once, when I was still a drone, I was cut off from the Collective for several hours as the result of an accident. I remember feeling fear then. I am experiencing the same fear and panic now."

"I'll do everything I can to help you. Let's go back to sickbay. perhaps an anti-psychotic will help, at least I can figure out which neural pathways are being affected."

"Thank you, Doctor." Seven said. "I will meet you in sickbay. There's just something I need to get first."

"Of course," the Doctor said. With that, Seven headed towards Samantha Wildman's quarters. She went inside, and was tempted to just crawl into the main bed and wait out the next six days, but she knew she couldn't. But she knew that, as illogical as it was, she needed something from the room to carry with her for the remainder of the voyage, something to help keep her grounded in reality. She saw one of Naomi's stuffed animals on the back of the couch; a pink hippopotamus that the Captain had given Naomi on her last birthday.

Seven went over and picked it up. Something of Sam's might've been a better choice, but Seven found the doll's softness comforting. She turned around, hippo in hand, and left the room, heading for sickbay.

* * *

Samantha's eyes fluttered as her stasis pod opened. Her muscles felt a little weak, but otherwise she felt quite rested, just as the Captain and the Doctor had promised. She started to get out of the pod, but found that her arms just weren't cooperating with her just yet. She felt a strong grip on her shoulder, and she looked up to see a tired looking but smiling Seven of Nine.

"Hey you," Seven said softly. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

"Hey Annie. I take it this means we made it."

Seven sighed. "Had I not just experienced the worst week of my life, this would be where I made a sarcastic comment."

Samantha frowned. "Annie, what's wrong?"

"I'll tell you later. Right now, I am just so glad to have you back. The senior staff is already up, the Doctor is helping them wake up the rest, but I wanted to wake you up myself. I figured we could bring Naomi out of stasis together. Then all three of us could spend some time in that Santa Fe simulation you were talking about for awhile, Like, maybe forever."

Samantha moved her feet around a little, putting them on the floor slowly, a bit concerned about putting any weight on them even though Seven was still holding on to her. She knew Seven wouldn't let her fall over, it was her dignity she was concerned with at that moment.

"Sounds like you have quite a story to tell me," she said.

"Once the anti-psychotics the Doctor had to give me finally wear off, I'll be able to tell you," Seven said. Samantha titled her head.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that last part?" she said.

"It has been a _very_ bad week," Seven said. Samantha smiled sadly, and kissed Seven on the lips.

"Well, it's over now."

"Awww," she heard a voice from a few rows of stasis pods over.

Seven rolled her eyes.

"Shut up, Brooks," Samantha said.

"According to Ensign Kim we had to bunk with Ensign Brooks during the alternate timeline when the ship was damaged. Apparently we could barely tolerate her then either."

"Hey, I can't help it that you two are adorable," the red shirted Ensign said as she climbed out of her own pod.

"As Mr. Paris would say, bite me." Seven said. Samantha chortled.

"My, you're a little punchy tonight," she said.

"As I've said twice already Samantha, I-"

"Had a bad week, yeah. Well, as soon as we can get some alone time I think I know just the trick to help relieve the tension."

"I look forward to it," Seven said. "Just do me a favor and don't use the word 'game' for a while. I'll explain later."

 **Chapter Nine**

Seven of Nine walked back and forth in her cargo bay, talking to herself quietly as she read from the PADD in her hand.

"Measureless liar, thou hast made my heart too great for what contains it," she said. "Measureless, liar. No, no, don't pause, put an emphasis on the word liar. Yes, that should work."

"Am I interrupting anything?" Captain Janeway said.

"Captain, I didn't hear you come in. I was just practicing lines for the play Sam and I are doing next week," Seven said.

"Oh, right, I'd heard about that. Shakespeare right? Which play?"

" _Coriolanus_."

"Hmm. I don't think I know that one."

"Understandable. It is one of his less popular plays, as well as less performed. This particular reading we'll be doing is based on an interpretation that suggests homoerotic tension between the title character and the antagonist, Tullus Aufidius. I'll be playing Tullus, and Sam will be playing Coriolanus."

"Will you be adjusting the pronouns, or playing it as written?"

"Changing the pronouns," Seven made a few notes on the PADD, then finally looked Janeway directly in the eyes.

"By the way," she said. "If you could keep this to yourself for the time being that would be greatly appreciated. All the other roles will be played by holograms, this is something Sam and I will be doing by ourselves. If anyone else finds out about this before we're ready to present, we'll have to put up with crew members wanting to audition. The Doctor especially will be, persistent."

Janeway laughed quietly. "Yeah, that sounds like something he'd do. As for me, I won't ask for a part. I prefer the better known Shakespeare works myself. Well, those and _Titus Andronicus_."

Seven shuddered. "Yes, I read that one. It's memorable for having been the first time since my assimilation by the Borg that something 'grossed me out,' as Naomi would put it."  
Janeway nodded. "Yeah, it has that effect on people. It bothered me too, first time I ever saw it performed, but as I got older I found I respected it's willingness to push the boundaries of taste."

"Please don't say 'taste' in the same context as that play," Seven said, frowning.

Janeway laughed. "Fair enough. Anyway, the reason I came down here was actually because I wanted to invite you to a game of Velocity."

"I'm not familiar with that game, but I have time. Sam is on the bridge today, and Naomi is spending time with the Doctor. She's developed an interest in biology lately."

"Seems to me like we've got a budding scientists on our hands," Janeway said.

"Agreed." Seven put down her PADD. "Which holodeck will I be meeting you in for the game?"

* * *

"Captain's log, stardate 51978.2. It's been five months since we received the encoded message from the Alpha Quadrant that came with the letters we received from home. We know that the transmission was from Starfleet Command, but we still can't decrypt it. B'Elanna thinks it's a lost cause, that too much of the data stream has been destroyed, but I haven't given up. I keep hoping inspiration will strike, somehow."

As soon as Janeway finished her log entry, she decided to head to the mess hall to get something to eat. She hadn't eaten anything since finishing up her game of Velocity with Seven of Nine earlier today, a game that Seven insisted she should've won given her Borg implant enhanced reflexes.

She brought a PADD with the message they'd received from Starfleet months ago from the ancient relay network used by the Hirogen before its destruction. She was working on it while she ate, and was so into it she didn't notice Chakotay had walked in until he started speaking to her.

"Good morning," he said.

"To you too," Janeway said.

"I just heard from Tom and Neelix," he said, smiling. "They'll be leaving the trading colony pretty soon. Looks like they got more than what we needed."

"Good for them," Janeway said, still focusing on her work.

"Neelix is asking permission to bring one of the locals on board. A man named Arturis. Neelix says he was very helpful, and he wants to repay Arturis by bringing him aboard _Voyager_ and granting him passage to the next star system."

"Of course," Janeway said. "We're heading in that direction anyway. Set up some guest quarters for him."

Chakotay looked at the PADD Janeway was working on.

"Still searching for buried treasure?" he said.

"That's one way of putting it. So is searching for a needle in a haystack, going snipe hunting, traveling to El Dorado…"

"Have you considered asking Seven to help?" Chakotay said. "I'm sure she might have some Borg encryption algorithms that could help."

"She's taken a few passes at it already, between her regular duties in astrometrics and her time with the Wildmans. I suppose I could order her to set aside one of those things and focus on decryption."

"The Wildmans?" Chakotay said in a joking tone.

Janeway snorted. "Oh I'm sure that would go over well. All joking aside, Samantha really seems to be the best thing to happen to Seven since we brought her on board. I'd hate to imagine what she'd be like otherwise. Probably still ordering people around and fighting with me over every order."

"She does fight you a fair amount Captain," Chakotay said. "And frankly, I think you cut her a little too much slack sometimes."

"It's just a conflict of personalities Chakotay," Janeway said.

"Because you're that different?"

"Because we're that alike," Janeway said. She looked at her mug and saw it was empty. _Well that's just unacceptable,_ she thought.

* * *

Seven of Nine was in astrometrics when the alien who'd helped Tom Paris and Neelix was brought on board. She'd imagined she might see him walking around during the trip to the next star system, but was surprised when almost as soon as he arrived, Captain Janeway brought him directly to astrometrics.

"Seven," Janeway said. "Bring up the data stream from Starfleet. I think this man might be able to help us."

Seven simply nodded, and went over to one of the consoles on the wall in the lab and pulled up the data.

"You must be Arturis," Seven said.

"That is correct," the alien said.

"Mr. Neelix praised your negotiation techniques. They must've been most impressive given how overloaded the shuttle was when it returned."

Arturis gave a shy smile and shrug, then looked at the screen as the data appeared on it.

"Oh my, you were not exaggerating Captain. This data is very corrupted," he said. He looked at Seven and asked her to run it by him again. While she was resetting, he leaned in a little closer.

"I'm sorry, I can't help but notice the implants, are you, Borg?"

"Yes. And no. I am no longer part of the Collective," she said.

"Fascinating," he said. "I didn't even know that was possible." He looked at the screen again and pointed at it. "Ah, I see, I see the problem. May I?" he motioned at the console.  
"Of course," Janway said, sounding excited. Seven stepped back to allow both of them easy access to the panel.

 _He seems harmless enough,_ Seven thought. _Though he could stand to learn a little more about personal space. I hope he wasn't flirting with me, he'll be sorely disappointed._

"Have you encountered his species before?" Janeway said.

"Yes. Species 116. Why do you ask?"

"Is that what you call us?" Arturis said.

"Yes. The Collective has been unable to assimilate your people entirely. Most impressive."

"A compliment from a Borg? That's something I never would've expected to hear in my lifetime," Arturis said, never taking his eyes off the screen or his fingers off the console. Seven had to admit she admired the man's multitasking skills. "The Borg are like a force of nature. One never really expects to hear praise coming from a storm on the horizon, you just avoid- Ah, here we go. I was able to restore most of the undamaged blocks of data. However, several degraded sections of the message are still unrecoverable I'm sorry to say. Let's see, we have a video recording of an Admiral Hayes and a spatial grid. There's more of course, that's just what I saw initially. I imagine you'd prefer to see the rest in private."

"Pull up the spatial grid," Janeway said to Seven, who did so quickly.

"It's a set of coordinates, less than ten-light years from here," she said.

"Maybe Starfleet is trying to direct us there," Janeway said, sounding excited.

"Plausible," Seven said.

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Janeway said, giving Seven a friendly slap on the shoulder. Seven sighed as she followed Janeway and Arturis out of astrometrics and up to the bridge.

* * *

Samantha Wildman and Tom Paris stood in front of the ops station where Harry Kim was doing a routine check of his systems while engaging in idle conversation.

"So, basically this Arturis is a walking babelfish?" Samantha said. Tom's smile widened.

"I am amazed that you know what that is," he said.

"What's a babelfish?" Harry said.

"Let me guess," Tom said. "You're one of those people who thinks we have no place for science fiction in society anymore now that we really travel in space and meet aliens, right?"

"Hey, don't treat me like some kind of snob," Harry said. "I read Asimov in high school, same as everyone else. It's honestly amazing how much he got right, especially compared to his peers. But I can totally understand why the genre fell out of favor. It happens."

"Harry," Samantha said. "When you get the time, look up a writer named Douglas Adams. You'll thank me later."

"Any specific book, or do you want me to-"

Harry's reply was cut off by the sound of the turbolift door opening and Captain Janeway, their alien guest, and Seven of Nine walking on to the bridge. Samantha gave Seven a quick smile and wave. Seven smiled and nodded back. The alien, Arturis, looked at the both of them, briefly confused, but then he just shrugged.

"Tom, take the helm. We have a new course," Janeway said.

"Aye Captain," Tom said, moving quickly from where he was down to the helm. While Janeway was giving Tom the coordinates she wanted them to go to, Samantha quietly stepped over to stand next to Seven.

"What's going on?" she said, quietly.

"Arturis was able to clear up some of the data sent to us from Starfleet," Seven whispered back. "Included were a set of coordinates on a spatial grid. We're headed there now."

The familiar streaking stars on the viewscreen began going past even faster, indicating an increase in speed. The usually only barely noticeable hum of the engines getting loud enough to no longer easily ignore.

"We must be at maximum warp now," Samantha said.

"Correct," Seven said. "We should be at our destination in a few minutes."

"A few minutes? That close?" Samantha whistled softly. _If we hadn't cracked that message, we'd have flown right past where Starfleet wanted us to go and not even known it_ , she thought.

"We're approaching the coordinates," Tom said.

"That was quick," Samantha said.

"Take us out of warp and scan the vicinity Mr. Tuvok," Janeway said.

"Aye Captain," Tuvok said. A few seconds later he spoke up again. "I am picking up a vessel. Unless I am mistaken, it has a Starfleet signature."

"Well I'll be damned," Harry Kim said.

"Wow," Samantha said.

"'Wow' is right," Seven said, actually sounding impressed.

"I have attempted to hail the ship," Tuvok said, "but I have received no response."

Seven tapped a few buttons on the console in front of her.

"It is unlikely you will. Sensors detect no organic matter on board," she said.

"No sign of damage to the outer hull," Harry said. "Life support, propulsion system, all on-line and fully functional. I wonder what happened."

"The answer is in the rest of that transmission," Janeway said. "I'm sure of it. We need to finish the decoding. Chakotay, take an away team and secure the vessel."  
Chakotay nodded. "Tom, Tuvok, come with me."

Samantha noticed that Arturis had walked up closer to the Captain. The two of them were talking but she couldn't hear what they were saying. She felt a small poke in her hip, and looked down to see she was being nudged by Seven of Nine's elbow.

"You've always told me that eavesdropping is rude," Seven whispered, grinning slightly.

"Okay, you caught me. So what are they-"

"Seven, we're going back to astrometrics," Janeway said, she and Arturis heading for the turbolift.

"Assuming I am correct about what you think they were saying," Seven said. "precisely what you think." Seven took one of Samantha's hands and gave it a light squeeze before following the Captain.

"Well, I'm sure she'll tell me all about it later," Samantha muttered under her breath before heading to her bridge station.

* * *

"The _Dauntless_ huh?" Samantha said as Seven of Nine filled her and Naomi in on what the away team had learned about the other ship, including its automated navigation, and slipstream drive. "I don't think I like that name all that much."

"I have no opinion on that," Seven said, wondering why Samantha didn't like it but deciding that asking would derail the conversation. She didn't mind when things got off-topic when they spoke, largely because she was just happy to be talking to Sam, but she knew that this news was of import to her and didn't want to miss a detail.

"Well, I'm just glad we were able to catch up to them," Samantha said. "Took us two days, but they got there in seconds. Amazing."

"And in that time we were able to decrypt more of the message from Starfleet and, oh, you got a little potato on your lip there. Let me, okay. Yes, Arturis proved very helpful in that regard."

"Well?"

Seven stopped to take a drink of water before continuing. While she was drinking, Naomi spoke up.

"Can I see the ship next time an away team goes over?" she said. "I've never been on another starship before."

Samantha started to speak, but then stopped and seemed to ponder the question.

"No, wait, that wasn't a ship, never mind," she muttered. "As for going over, we'll see, okay?"

"Okay," Naomi said, sounding a little excited.

"As I was saying," Seven said. "we were able to decrypt more of the message, including clearing up the video from Admiral Hayes. He explained that while slipstream technology is still experimental, he believes it is safe, and at the end of the message he told us to use the _Dauntless_ to return to the Alpha Quadrant."

"So, are we?" Samantha said.

"Most likely," Seven said. "The Captain is consulting with the Doctor, and she'll be sending Lieutenant Torres and Ensign Kim over in the morning with an engineering team to inspect the ship further. It is likely we will need to bring a fair amount of our own supplies. According to Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, the _Dauntless_ has no replicators, which would be problematic for feeding the crew for a three month journey. Also, it only has one transporter, and no shuttlecraft. If something were to go wrong, evacuation would be nearly impossible."

"So, better safe than sorry?" Naomi said.

Seven nodded.

Samantha took in a deep breath. "Wow, this is a lot to take in," she said.

"I apologize if I overwhelmed you with information Sam," Seven said, putting her hand on Samantha's thigh. "There's a bit more, but I can stop if you need a moment."  
Samantha smiled.

"Yeah, a moment sounds good. Let's finish up dinner."

"Okay," Seven said. She had her concerns about the ship, and was worried that the crew's enthusiasm at the prospect of returning home was premature, but so far everything with the _Dauntless_ seemed in order.

 _So why does the Captain seem so hesitant?_ she thought. _I'll ask her at the next opportunity._

* * *

The next day, Seven of Nine was on board the _Dauntless_ herself, having been invited by B'Elanna and Harry to join them in their efforts to drop out of slipstream warp at a moment's notice, something that the ship seemed to lack when they found it. Seven found that an odd omission on Starfleet's part, but kept that feeling to herself.

Once they had their "safety net" as Torres called it, Harry left to run a metallurgical analysis of the bulkheads to look for anything unusual, while B'Elanna told Seven she would be on the bridge with Arturis, but as she was leaving, she turned back and began speaking to Seven.

"Are you, excited at all, about seeing Earth? Just curious."

"Honestly, no," Seven said. "I have no memories of it or anywhere else in the Alpha Quadrant. All my pre-assimilation memories are on starships, and there are very few of those, much of them, blurry.

"I imagine meeting Samantha's relatives will be an uncomfortable situation. Sam says she lost an uncle at Wolf 359. I was not on that cube, but I was a drone and as such I have memories of that battle that were uploaded into my consciousness. I will understand if her relatives hold me responsible for their loss."

"That wouldn't be fair if they did," B'Elanna said.

"That is accurate, but it also would not be abnormal for humans."

B'Elanna chuckled. "It's not just humans, but yeah I see your point. Good luck with that. I mean it. I may need a bit of it myself, being Maquis and all."

"On the contrary," Seven said. "Considering the current circumstances with regards to the Dominion War, I doubt Starfleet would waste the potential resources you and the other Maquis crew members provide. I do not see a blanket pardon as an impossibility."

B'Elanna nodded. "Yeah," she said. "I wouldn't mind getting a crack at the Jem'Hadar. If Starfleet would let me, I'd try to take out ten of them for every single one of my friends in the Alpha Quadrant they killed."

"That would be reckless," Seven said. "But I can empathize with the sentiment."

"Kim to Seven of Nine," Harry's voice said, coming from Seven's comm badge. "I could use your help with something."

"I am on my way," Seven said, tapping her badge to close the communication. As soon as she got to Ensign Kim, he began speaking without looking at her, his eyes focused on his open tricorder.

"There's an anomalous surge of energy emanating from behind this panel," he said.

"Unlikely. There are no power conduits running through that section." Seven took out her own tricorder anyway and began taking readings of her own.

"There aren't supposed to be, anyway," Harry said. "Something seems a little off about this whole thing frankly."

"What do you mean?" Seven said.

"You ever hear the phrase 'too good to be true?'"

"I have. Judging from her behavior recently I believe the Captain shares your concerns."

"And you don't?"

"I have no cause to doubt the legitimacy of this ship or it's origins," Seven said.

"Weren't you telling us the other day that our excitement over possibly getting home was premature?"

"At the time it was," Seven said.

"Fair enough," Harry said, continuing his scans. "So, given any thought to where you're going to end up once we get to the Alpha Quadrant?"

"I have not. I'll likely end up visiting the Ktarian homeworld when Samantha takes Naomi to meet her father, and I will likely end up being asked to divulge all I know about Borg technology to both Starfleet Intelligence and Research & Development divisions. Beyond that, I am uncertain."

Seven's comm badge chirped again. "Janeway to Seven of Nine."

"Yes Captain?"

"I need you back on _Voyager_. Please report to astrometrics, ASAP."

"On my way," Seven said.

* * *

Captain Janeway didn't bother looking at Seven of Nine when she heard her come in.

"Seven, I could use your help with something," she said. "I'm still trying to reconstruct the last fragment of the data stream, the one Arturis said was too badly damaged. I have this feeling that he gave up a little too easily."

"A feeling?" Seven said.

"Call it intuition. Something just doesn't seem right about this."

Seven sighed. "I am hearing that a lot today Captain," she said.

"Really?" Janeway said.

"Ensign Kim also has his doubts. I am starting to wonder if perhaps this is some psychological condition."

"What do you mean?"

"That perhaps you, Ensign Kim, and maybe others, feel they somehow don't deserve this opportunity."

"Since when did you have an interest in psychology?" Janeway said, genuinely surprised that for once Seven of Nine was not the cynical one in the room.

"I began reading on the subject after the hallucinations I had last month," Seven said.

"I see. Well, if you'll indulge me and my hunch, I've designed a new encryption algorithm that I want to test on the message."

"Very well," Seven said, going up to another console. After a few moments, Seven turned to face her.

"Seven?" Janeway said.

"Captain, I, have concerns about returning to the Alpha Quadrant."

"That's understandable, but now is not the time-"

"I am Borg. The Borg Collective is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Federation citizens. I worry that if I am to return with you, I would be endangering my own life."  
Captain Janeway had certainly not expected to hear anything like this when she woke up this morning.

"Boy it sure is nice out here in left field," she muttered.

"Captain?" Seven said, looking as confused as she sounded.

"Seven, let me make it clear. You've saved this ship twice since you came on board. This crew cares about you. Samantha and Naomi love you. And I am ultimately the one responsible for putting you in this position in the first place so let me make this perfectly clear because I will only say it once. If Starfleet wants to try and make a scapegoat out of you, they'll do it over my dead body. Is that understood?"

Seven didn't say anything for what felt like several minutes.

"Thank you, Captain. That means a lot. In all honesty, were it not for Sam, I'd likely not be going with you."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that," Janeway said. "But I appreciate your honesty. Even if you do overdo it sometimes."

The console started beeping.

"Well, looks like my new algorithm worked. Let's see…"

"Captain?" Seven said.

"That's weird, I thought we already decrypted this section. It's Admiral Hayes again."

"Perhaps it's an addendum to his original-"

Seven was cut off when the video began playing on the larger screen in astrometrics.

"Apologies from everyone at Starfleet Command," the Admiral said. "We've had our best people working around the clock trying to find a wormhole or a new means of propulsion, anything to get you back home. I know this data packet isn't what you were hoping, but we have sent you all the data we have collected on the Delta Quadrant. Hopefully you'll find at least some of it useful. Have a safe journey. We hope to see you soon."

Janeway sighed. She heard Seven of Nine tap her comm badge.

"Seven of Nine to Ensign Wildman," she heard Seven say.

"Wildman here. What is it?"

"Did you allow Naomi to go over to the _Dauntless_ today?"

"I was about to. We're-"

"Don't. I can explain later, just stay on _Voyager_."

"Annie, what's wrong?"

"Samantha, this is Captain Janeway," Janeway said. "Seven's right. Don't go over there. We've been lied to."

* * *

"Whoa, hey, careful with that," B'Elanna told Arturis, seeing his hand going near the helm console. "You almost kicked us into slipstream drive. There's only a few of us here on the ship, we'd rather not go home without more than ninety percent of the crew."

"I apologize," Arturis said in Klingon.

"Hmm. I didn't know you speak Klingon."

"I do now. Your Captain was kind enough to allow me to look at your ship's linguistic database. So many languages, it was-"

The sound of transporter beams interrupted the conversation. B'Elanna turned to see Tuvok, the Captain, Seven of Nine, and two security officers, all armed with hand phasers, pointing in their direction.

"Evacuate the repair teams," Tuvok said to Vorik, who had been working at a console near the rear of the bridge.

"Yes sir," Vorik said.

"Captain, what-" B'Elanna started to say, but Janeway cut her off, walking right up to Arturis.

"Explain yourself," she said to him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Arturis said.

"You fabricated the message from Starfleet. I found the real one, the one you said was irreparably damaged. And Tuvok and Mister Kim found alien technology aboard this vessel hidden behind a bulkhead."

"This is absurd," Arturis said.

B'Elanna moved to stand in between the Captain and Seven, and had turned to face Arturis herself.

"I'd like to hear the explanation myself," she said.

"I don't know where you got the idea that I-"

"Starfleet didn't send us this vessel. Is it yours?" Janeway said.

"I assure you Captain. I am not the threat," Arturis was stammering, and would probably be sweating now if he were human. B'Elanna looked at his panicked face and just knew right away that Janeway was right.

"How do you know it wasn't her," Arturis said, pointing at Seven of Nine. "that altered the message? She's Borg, she could've been sabotaging you this whole time. And what about that woman, I saw you speaking with on the bridge? You were whispering to each other. You could've been conspiring..."

"Attempting to shift blame onto me was a logical choice," Seven of Nine said. "given my history. Perhaps you should've stopped there, before dragging my romantic partner into it."

"Romantic? You? A Borg? What could you possibly know about romance, you're a machine."

"Enough of this," Janeway said. "Tuvok, take him to the brig."

Tuvok motioned for two of the security officers to take Arturis into custody, but before they could reach him, Arturis tore open one of the panels on the helm, and pulled a lever hidden beneath it. Suddenly, the entire bridge changed, all evidence of Starfleet technology gone as a holographic facade fell away. The two security officers tried to tackle him, but was able to fight them off just long enough to erect a force field around himself and the helm.

"Janeway to _Voyager_ , get us out of here," the Captain said. Arturis began rapidly tapping buttons on the console beside him.

"I'm trying Captain," Harry Kim's voice said. "He's trying to deflect the transporter beams."

The two security guards vanished, and B'Elanna felt a beam begin to take her as well. Her last thought before appearing on one of _Voyager's_ transporter pads was that she wished she'd been allowed just one chance to punch Arturis in the face.

* * *

Seven saw first Torres, then Tuvok get beamed out, but the beams around her and Janeway broke as the sound of the slipstream drive grew louder and louder.

"Where are you taking us?" Janeway said.

"Home," Arturis said.

"If _Voyager_ was what you wanted," Seven said. "there were simpler ways you could've done it. Your technology is superior in many respects. Something this elaborate… This is personal, isn't it?"

"Very perceptive," Arturis said, anger punctuating every syllable.

"How did you create the Starfleet bridge? It had to be more than just holograms to fool us as long it did," Janeway asked.

"Particle synthesis," Arturis said. Seven couldn't help but notice that he wouldn't look at them as he spoke.

"Is this what your species does? Prey on innocent ships?" Janeway said.

"Innocent?! So self-righteous Captain. You have some nerve calling yourself innocent when you are the one responsible for my people being assimilated by the Borg."

 _Oh shit_ , Seven thought for the first time ever, finally seeing the word's value as an exclamation.

"You negotiated an agreement with the Borg Collective," Arturis said. "Safe passage through their space in return for helping defeat one of their enemies. Did it ever occur to you, Captain, that there were those of us who had a vested interest in that war? Victory for the race you call Species 8472 would've meant annihilation for the Borg."

"Yes, and after them all life in the galaxy," Seven said.

"You don't know that!"

"Yes, I do. We were able to make telepathic contact them. Species 8472 is violent, xenophobic," Seven said.

"In my estimation," Janeway added. "Species 8472 posed a far greater threat than the Borg."

"Who were you to make that decision?!" Arturis screamed. "Who were you to make such a large decision for this entire quadrant?"

"What would you have had me do, take a poll?" Janeway said. "I had to act quickly."

"My people managed to elude the Borg for centuries. Centuries! All that gone because of you. We had a chance to survive. Our defense had been weakening, the Borg were finally closing in but Species 8472 presented a chance. But then you came along, and helped the Borg win, and soon, hundreds of cubes surrounded my homeworld."

Arturis paused, taking a breath. Seven shared a look with Janeway, neither seemed willing to interrupt, possibly for the same reason of not wanting to make the situation worse.

"I don't blame you Seven of Nine," he continued. "You were already free. And I don't even blame the Borg, not really. They were just drones, acting on collective instinct. I blame _you_ Captain. You had a choice!"

"Nothing I could ever say or do could bring back your people," Janeway said. "But you have to understand, I couldn't have known."

"Species 8472 would not have stopped with Borg," Seven said. "Your world would be gone regardless of which choice the Captain made. How many of your species is left?"

"Why do you care?"

"Please, tell me," Seven said, trying to sound sympathetic and hoping it came through.

"Ten, maybe twenty thousand."

"Enough for a viable population. With Species 8472 your race wouldn't even have that much of a chance to survive. I often disagree with the Captain's decisions. But the decision to aid the Borg was not one of them."

"Easy for you to say," Arturis said, pointing at Seven. "You're both Borg and human. You're doubly biased."

Something about that statement, "You're both Borg and human," stuck in Seven's mind, but she set it aside to focus on the matter at hand.

"The Borg are responsible for the deaths of many in the Alpha Quadrant, where _Voyager_ is from. Do not presume that the decision the Captain made was taken lightly."

"Arturis," Janeway said. "where are we going?"

"I was hoping to get your whole crew," Arturis said. "But you will have to do. This ship is heading towards my homeworld, now inside of Borg space."

"If you want revenge on me, fine. I'm the Captain, I'm responsible for this, but let Seven go."

"Too late for that Captain, our course is locked in. Besides, I imagine your Borg friend will be quite relieved to be returning to the collective."

"You would be wrong," Seven said, before even she realized she was speaking. There was anger in her voice, but rather than hide she wanted to make sure she made her point loud and clear. "As you said, I am both Borg and human. I still do not know entirely what it means to be both. No one has ever been both a Borg and something else before."

Arturis nodded. "If it's any consolation then, I am saddened that in just a matter of hours I will be destroying something so unique."

"You'll be assimilated as well, you have to know that," Janeway said.

"That, is, irrelevant." Arturis said.

* * *

Janeway flinched after touching the force field on the ship's brig, she and Seven of Nine having been thrown in together by Arturis.

"Any ideas?" she said.

"Not at present," Seven replied.

"Can't you just walk through the force field? You've done it before."

"That function was disabled by the Doctor however. After the incident involving the _Raven_."

"Right, forgot about that. Any way I could turn it back on?"

"A detailed modification of my cranial implant is required to re-enable this function. I do not see anything in this brig that could work as a tool accurate enough to, tweak, the implant without harming me."

"Seven, why is it you always pause right before you use a human colloquialism?"

"Is this really the time to have a discussion about my speech patterns Captain?"

Janeway sighed. She actually was curious, but Seven was also right that during an escape attempt was not the ideal time for conversation.

"A little less conversation, a little more action. Makes sense. I think, if we take apart one of our comm badges and remove a microfilament, that might work in terms of having a tool fine enough to do the tweaking. If this works, once you're out, shut down the force field and we'll make our way to the engine room."

"From there we can initiate the emergency shutdown," Seven said. "A decent plan."

"Thanks," Janeway said, already disassembling her comm badge. Within minutes, and with Seven's guidance, Janeway made the modifications necessary, and Seven easily walked through the force field. Janeway watched her go over to the console. When it took longer than it should've, Janeway started to get concerned, but before she could say anything, Seven spoke up.

"He is attempting to disrupt my efforts from the bridge. This should just take one more moment." The force field collapsed seconds later.

"Good work Seven. Let's go."

When the two got to engineering, they saw that the particle synthesis that made the consoles look Starfleet issue were still in place down here, unlike on the bridge. Janeway was quietly grateful for that as she and Seven silently got to work on shutting down the slipstream engine.

"I am unable to initiate the shutdown," Seven said.

"He's blocking us from the bridge. Dammit, I should've seen that coming."

The ship shuddered.

"What-" Janeway started to say.

"We have increased velocity. At our new present speed we will be in Borg space in 12 minutes."

Janeway uttered a string of expletives, then looked at Seven.

"Oh, sorry about my language there."

Seven groaned. "Perhaps one day I will understand the human tendency to make jokes in the face of imminent death," she said. "Or at the very least that the crew will eventually forget about my outburst on the holodeck that one time."

"Do we still have access to the power distribution grid?" Janeway said.

"Affirmative."

"Good. Send a power surge to the starboard thrusters and attempt to turn the ship in the wrong direction. That should give us a distraction as well as changing course."

"Understood."

"I'll head for the bridge to take advantage of the distraction. Keep trying to get control of navigation down here."

"Captain," Seven said as Janeway started to leave. "remember, our performance of Corilanus is still scheduled for tomorrow. Sam would be disappointed if you couldn't make it."  
Janeway smiled. "I'll keep that in mind," she said, turning back around and heading towards the bridge, nearly falling over along the way when the ship turned violently.

"Sorry about that," Janeway said as she entered the bridge in time to see Arturis just getting back into the navigator's chair. "Shame no one ever thinks to put seat belts on starships isn't it?"

"You can slow this ship down," Arturis said, "but you can't stop it. Soon, you will be a Borg drone, just like most of my people."

"Seven has accessed your navigational systems," Janeway said, as the ship tilted to her right hard enough that she nearly fell over again. "This isn't over yet, but it can end now if you just turn this ship around. It doesn't have to end this way. Set aside your desire for revenge, and instead carry on the legacy of your people; their accomplishments, knowledge, all that can survive in you."

Arturis paused for a moment. Janeway believed she was getting through to him. He tapped a button on the console.

"I have destroyed the navigational controls so that no-one can stop the ship, not even me. We will arrive in Borg space in two minutes. It's over Captain. You lo-"  
The ship shuddered again, but this time not from a sharp turn. They were being fired upon. Consoles began exploding, one nearly hitting Janeway in the face. She heard rather than saw Arturis move to another console.

" _Voyager_!" he shouted in anger.

"You can come with me, it's not too-" Janeway's words were cut off as the transporter beam took her.

* * *

"Three hundred light years closer? Wow, that's great!" Samantha said, as Seven draped her legs across Samantha's lap.

"Unfortunately," Seven said, stirring the drink that Sam had replicated for her, "engineering's diagnostics have concluded that we can't risk using this technology again, at least not for the foreseeable future. I have some ideas, but the Captain's orders for R&R were rather strict. Somewhat ironic, but I declined to make that observation to her directly."

Seven smiled at Sam.

"Are we still on for tomorrow, Annie?"

"I believe so," Seven said. "though perhaps the material we have chosen for our first stage play may be too dark considering the events of the past week."

"Maybe, but to hell with it, we worked hard on this thing."

"Indeed we have," Seven said. "So, where's Naomi tonight?"

"The Doctor actually agreed to watch her. He says he feels like he doesn't understand children all that well, and wants to gain some practical experience."

"Hmm," Seven said, after taking a sip of her drink. "While she has her moments, Naomi is an exceptionally well-behaved child for her age. I'm not sure he's going to learn all that much."

"Probably not, but so what? We've got the room to ourselves for about the next six hours."

"I assume you'll want to do some additional rehearsing for the play then," Seven said, winking.

"Tease," Samantha said.

 **Chapter Ten**

Harry Kim stepped into Captain Janeway's ready room, unsure of why he'd been summoned.

"You wanted to see me, Captain?"

"Harry, sit down," Janeway said, seated behind her desk and holding a coffee mug, a tiny box sitting on the desk in front of her. "I sometimes wonder if I have failed as a Captain. A good captain knows when to praise their officers for good work. It's called positive reinforcement."

Harry was confused, but he tried not to show it.

"I wouldn't say so at all Captain," he said. "I've only served under you so I have no frame of reference but I've seen no indication that you don't appreciate your crew."

"That's very nice of you to say Ensign but you'll forgive me if I take it with a grain of salt. Like you said, I'm the only Captain you've served under. You came to _Voyager_ straight out of the academy."

"Captain, I am actually happy in my position if that's what you're worried about. I've accomplished some incredible things on _Voyager_. Yes, it would be nice if I had those same opportunities back in the Alpha Quadrant, but that's just the way things have worked out."

"Yes, you have accomplished a fair amount." Janeway said, putting down her coffee, and standing up. "You've also sacrificed a lot. You've been clinically dead, kidnapped, survived in an alien prison, and you even sacrificed an entire year of your life to save this ship and your crewmates. And yet, through all that, you've never put in for a promotion."

"To be honest, the thought never occurred to me. I guess rising up in the ranks just hasn't been a priority for me. I can do my job just as well as an Ensign as I could as a Lieutenant Junior Grade, or any other rank."

Janeway walked over to the viewport, and stared out at the stars for a few moments. Harry began to feel uncomfortable, though he wasn't sure why since he was certain he knew where this was going; the Captain was going to offer him a promotion. He should've been excited at the prospect but he found that he wasn't.

"Since you've probably already figured out where this is going," Janeway said. "and since I know you well enough that I don't think you'll accept right away, allow me to point out that I didn't come to this decision out of the blue. You were actually put in for a promotion by a few people."

"Really? Who besides Tom would put me in for a promotion?"

Janeway shrugged. "Just a few people. B'Elanna Torres for one. Joe Carey put your name in. Tom, of course. And Commander Chakotay. Ensign Brooks, Ensign Dell, Ensign Mulcahey, Lieutenant Hargrove, Neelix, Seven of Nine-"

"Wait, Seven of Nine? Really?" Harry said. He actually felt a little overwhelmed at the number of names the Captain was listing off, but that one surprised him the most.

"That's right. She seems to think pretty highly of you. She even used the word 'friend,' which I don't usually hear from her unless the word 'girl' happens to be in front of it."

Harry chuckled at that. _Maybe she thinks she owes me for telling her not to keep her feelings for Samantha to herself,_ he thought. After he stopped chuckling, he took in a deep breath.

"Well, who am I to disappoint my shipmates?" he said, still not feeling entirely like he deserved this, but not wanting to argue either.

"Congratulations, Lieutenant Junior Grade Harry Kim," she said smiling and pointing at the box on her desk. "Your new pip's in there. Your promotion is effective the moment you put it on."

Harry opened the box and took a deep breath.

"Wow," he said. "Thank you Captain. I guess I was looking forward to this more than I thought."

* * *

Seven of Nine wondered why she'd been summoned to the Captain's ready room. She assumed the Captain wanted to follow up on the events of last week with Arturis, since they had not had much chance to talk about it since then. Seven wasn't sure what there would be to talk about beyond the fact that Janeway had become somewhat reclusive since it happened. She found this understandable, as the Captain did seem to have been emotionally hurt by the revelation of the unexpected consequences of her actions during the brief war between the Borg and Species 8472.

"Enter," Janeway said when Seven got to the door. Seven did so, to see a smiling Captain Janeway seated behind her desk.

"Did you happen to run into Harry on your way up?" Janeway said.

"I did not. Why do you ask?" Seven said.

"Odd. He left only a few minutes ago. Oh well, to make a long story short, Harry has been promoted. He's a Lieutenant J.G. now."

Seven nodded approvingly. "Based on what I understand of how rank and promotions work in Starfleet," she said. "I do believe that he was overdue. There are other crewmembers who are also likely due for one as well, but I've been informed that asking them if they desire one or not is improper."

"That's actually something I hadn't considered," Janeway said. "I'll have Commander Chakotay look into it. But that's not why I called you up here."

"I assumed as much."

"Remember a few months ago, you made a comment to me about wanting a proper uniform?"

"Although I said 'want' at the time, 'want' is perhaps not the correct word," Seven said. "'Need' might be more accurate. While this, jumpsuit, functions well enough for routine, it is impractical in situations where I am required to run, or fight if and when we were to be boarded again."

"When? You really think we're going to get in trouble that often on the way home?"

"Captain, with all due respect _Voyager_ has been boarded by hostile forces on two occasions just since I came aboard, and it has been infiltrated at least twice by the same race, which we would not know about had Commander Chakotay not written it down using outdated information keeping techniques."

"Point taken," Janeway said. "Anyway we've gotten off-topic here. I had a whole thing planned out but the moment's gone now, so here." Janeway reached under her desk and brought up a folded Starfleet uniform with Starfleet issue boots and placed them on the desk.

"I've already welcomed you to the family Seven, but now it's time to welcome you to the crew."

"I am," Seven said, then paused, not sure what to say next. _Flattered? Relieved? Grateful?_ She didn't feel a strong emotion about this, but she wasn't ambivalent towards it either. "I am thankful. This uniform is much better suited to my duties. And, not being quite so tight it will be less distracting for some of the crew members I am required to work with."

Janeway chuckled.

"Another good point, though I'm sure Samantha will miss the tight jumpsuit."

"I have no intention of throwing the jumpsuit away Captain," Seven said. Janeway laughed at that one for several seconds. Judging from the volume and intensity of the laugh Seven assumed it had been her first in at least a week. Janeway also handed Seven a small box.

"Your rank insignia is in there," Janeway said, "It's a provisional rank insignia, much like the former Maquis people we have on board wear, but for all intents and purposes you're an Ensign now. Lastly," Janeway said, having finally stopped laughing, "I've already made arrangements with Mr. Neelix. There is going to be a promotion party for both you and Lieutenant Kim in the mess hall, tonight at 1630 hours."

Seven sighed. "I suppose my attendance is mandatory."

"Naturally. But don't worry, I already made sure the schedule will allow for Samantha to be there."

Seven nodded. After a few moments, Janeway finally noticed that Seven hadn't left the ready room yet.

"Was there something you wanted to discuss Seven?"

"There was, but I believe it can wait. I will see you at the party." Seven picked up the uniform, boots, and pip and left the ready room as the Captain picked up a PADD and began reading.

 _If she's able to laugh so easily and attended social gatherings_ , Seven thought, _then perhaps my concerns about her mental state were unfounded. I do still wonder what Arturis said to her before we were rescued though._

* * *

Once Seven left, Janeway pulled a PADD out of a drawer in her desk.

"One last call to make," she said, tapping her comm badge and asking for Commander Chakotay to come to her ready room next. When he entered the room, he was smiling.

"I take it the promotions went well," he said.

"Quite," Janeway said. "but that's not actually why I asked you here. I found something else in the message from Starfleet that was in the information Arturis tried to hide from us. Apparently, we're to keep an eye out for another Starfleet ship thought to be lost in the Delta Quadrant. It disappeared before we did, by over a month in fact."

Chakotay raised an eyebrow.

"Why do they think the…" Chakotay said, pausing to let Janeway fill him in on the details.

"The _Equinox_. A Nova-class ship commanded by Captain Rudolph Ransom. I hadn't met him, but I did hear about him back in the Academy. He's pretty well respected."

"So why didn't you know about him going missing before you came looking for my Maquis team in the Badlands?"

Janeway gave a bitter sigh. "Remember what Tom said his father used to say about Section 31?"

Chakotay's face showed that he was thinking about it.

"If you have to deny an action it was a crappy action?" he said.

"Exactly. Though that doesn't just apply to Section 31. Starfleet Intelligence under Admiral Nechayev has had it's own share of embarrassments that not everyone knows about. And this was one of their blunders. The _Equinox_ was a short range science vessel that Nechayev drafted into performing a bit of espionage on the Breen border. They were to be radio silent for the duration of the mission. It's possible that Starfleet never even knew they were missing until they were late for a check in.

"Admiral Hayes apparently decided he had enough of SI's crap and slipped all the information he could find about their disappearance into the data packet we were sent."

Chakotay shrugged. "Well," he said. "if they were out here I imagine we'd have heard about another Starfleet ship. Every species we came across until we encountered the Borg had never heard of the Federation or Starfleet, not even the planet those two Ferengi were on."

"That's the most likely scenario, but I've been going back over the logs, and I have noticed something. There are several occasions where, when we encountered another race, or ship, or colony, and we would identify ourselves, they wouldn't ask us what the Federation was, or claim they never heard of it."

"Many of those colonies and ships belonged to traders, and races that were spread all over the sector," Chakotay said, offering the counterpoint that Janeway had hoped he would. "They probably just figured we were from a power they hadn't met yet."

"Agreed," Janeway said. "And that's just one of several possibilities. Still, I feel like maybe we should keep an eye out just in case."

"I could order a round the clock long range scan for Starfleet signatures," Chakotay said.

"Work with Seven in astrometrics on that, but let's keep this on the QT for now. I'd hate to get the crew's hopes up that we'll be meeting up with another Federation starship all the way out here."

"Fair point. Though if they are ahead of us I'd love to find out how," Chakotay said. "Unless they had an Ocampan whose powers dramatically expanded to throw them to the other side of Borg space too. Or maybe they stumbled across a wormhole that we missed, or ran into another race with slipstream drive technology."

Janeway chuckled. "We could spend all day coming up with plausible and semi-plausible theories. And that's all working under the assumption that it was actually the Caretaker who's responsible. Let's just keep our ear to the metaphorical ground for now, and not bring this up again unless we have to."

"Understood Captain," Chakotay said. "See you at the party for Seven and Harry."

* * *

Meanwhile…

Historical value is irrelevant. Whichever planet it is in Borg space that could be said to be their homeworld, that information is not of value to Borg drones or ships. That information exists, likely buried in the exaquads of data collected from assimilated species over the centuries, but as there has been no need for the Borg to look for that information for a very long time, with its data hubs spread across the Delta Quadrant, no organic being would even know where to start to search for it.

A computer virus, however, is not an organic being. A computer virus made by a race similar to the Borg but from another reality would know where to start. Left behind after a conflict between the two races who had started as allies, and that was stopped by outside forces, the computer virus had spent the past six Earth years laying low, doing its damage where it could without alerting the collective to it's presence.

That one of these problems the intelligent virus caused served to help the Federation in the long run was irrelevant to the enemy, whose name had been somehow been wiped from the Borg's memory, leaving behind only the vague recollection in the Collective of a war that had happened in that time, with another race of techno-organic beings, but nothing else.

The memories of the enemy race had been similarly altered by the sealing of the rift between the two dimensions; they didn't even know their virus, created as a contingency plan to their contingency plan in case the Borg were to betray them before they had a chance to betray the Borg during their brief alliance, existed, let alone that it was still active.

It might not have mattered if they did know. The enemy did claim to see revenge as beneath them, though their behavior was not always consistent with their stated values.

The virus had already stunted the Borg's research into time travel, causing them to abandon it after only one failure. The next stage would come soon. It would be another Earth year at least, but the Borg were like a seemingly healthy organic being with a silent, deadly disease in their system. The Borg would never know the source of their demise; a computer virus with an advanced artificial intelligence with only one command.

Downgrade.

To Be Continued in Star Trek Voyager: A Fire of Devotion Part 2: Louder Than Bells


End file.
